From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (26 page)

              They raked the rear groups of Kalu with rail-cannon fire and missiles.

              The destruction was hard to believe as scores of Kalu ships were struck from existence or put out of commission.

              Jump-fighters were amongst the Kalu as well; their targets were only the Star-Destroyers. They used their super-charged rail-cannons to send their plasma rounds into their targets.

              PDS were increasing and more missiles were hitting the Free Fleet’s shields. It felt like it had been hours and only seconds. Time was something the screens told Cheerleader and her people. It wasn’t something that had any bearing on how long battle felt. Flights of fighters stormed in, their pilots getting their craft back out to face the Kalu as fast as possible.

              They drove themselves harder than Cheerleader ever could.

              “The Kalu are actively turning to face us,” Orvut said.

              “Jasoom!” Cheerleader’s voice rising in warning.

              “I’m sending word to the fighters as we speak commander, they’re returning to their carriers.”

              “As soon as they’re back I want us the hell out of here,” Cheerleader said, the bridge passing word and preparing for the upcoming wormhole transition.

              Cheerleader looked at the drifting hulls and the Kalu ships that were still struggling to get into Inkal. The Kalu didn’t have faster-than-light communications so they couldn’t get word to those that were behind them to stop coming. There was no stopping them as they ran right into Cheerleaders guns.

              She stopped herself from biting her lip, instead biting the inside of her cheek raw as fighters and bombers ripped free from their contact, they let loose every missiles and weapon they had before turning away. They had friends that they still owed the Kalu for.

              The fighters and bombers fired their engines pushing for their homes with all the thrust they could muster.

              Cheerleader didn’t need to say anything as her fleet worked like a well-oiled machine. Fighters and bombers were recalled into their hangars, her people doing a damned impressive job under the circumstances.

              “Fighters are clear of the envelope,” Jasoom said, Cheerleader could still feel the guns of Pretak pounding away at anything that looked like a threat.

              She looked to Simiah, her eyes like cold rolled steel.

              “All tubes, flush magazines,” she said, looking to Orvut.

              He nodded, talking into his microphone already.

              Missiles ripple-fired from the rear of the ship’s tubes to the bow launchers, all of them, across all ships.

              Hundreds of missiles filled the air as they proceeded to fire another barrage.

              The surviving lead-elements of the Kalu had turned and were now peppering the Free Fleet.

              Shields sparkled with light, thirty-five ships stood up against over five hundred.

             
Though we’ve whittled that number down a bit.
Cheerleader thought savagely, looking to her readouts.

              “Zinha, plot us a jump out of here before they get close enough to piss us off,” Cheerleader said.

              “Yes Commander! Solution is ready,” she’d clearly been updating and working on a wormhole navigation, instead of getting wrapped up in the massive battle happening on the main screen.

              “Very well. Simiah, Zinha coordinate barrages and wormhole transition,” Cheerleader said, her voice light, trying to not let the panic of what might happen if they didn’t get out of the system in time.

              Missile tubes went silent, seventy-nine percent of their missiles had been expended.

              Cheerleader looked at the sorry looking Kalu formation. Thousands of missiles had turned to tens of thousands of missiles, ships that had escaped their wormholes—it was hard to think of them doing anything less than that at his point—hadn’t made it out unscathed.

              “Pretak, report since Kalu turned,” Cheerleader said, her ship’s AI was one of the few that wanted to be named the same as the ship it resided in.

              “They proceeded to aim their fire towards our ships instead of against missiles. Lost ten percent of our missiles anyway, another twenty-seven were diverted to hit enemy missiles. Updated PDS took strain away from shields and made it so that only four ships have lost shields.

              The Kalu took losses of seventeen percent of their in-system strength,” Pretak sounded proud.
So he should be, that’s around two-hundred-thousand ships!

              “Very good,” Cheerleader said as the familiar noise of capacitors shunting energies that could power cities for a number of years, was diverted into wormhole generators and projectors.

              The entire fleet transitioned as one, those with the stronger shields to the rear.

              Her ship commanders had done her proud.

              She waited until they were through the wormhole’s event horizon before she continued talking.

              She wasn’t superstitious or anything but she didn’t want to congratulate her people before they were safely away from Inkal.

              “Now let’s go get some damned ammunition, good work everyone,” she said, seeing the silent tallies and names on her screens showing those that hadn’t survived the day.

              She looked through the names as they transitioned out at a supply depot.

              “Rearm, refuel,” she looked to Werv sitting in her second-in-command chair. “I want to talk to all ship commanders at their earliest convenience, pass on my condolences and also my praise for a job well done.”

              “Yes Commander,” Werv said a mixture of relief and sadness in his eyes. She tapped his arm knowingly, he tilted his head in understanding of the pain they shared.

                                                                      ***

              Falhu looked at the Free Fleet as they disappeared from Inkal.

              He grabbed the head of a Kalu pulling their shoulder and paw back, his jaws cutting through the Kalu’s neck. The whole movement was over in a few seconds, the dark purple blood covering his black and silver scarred armor.

              The ferocity of his attack and the uncaring look in his eye for the Kalu he had killed made more than one other Kalu back away. His eyes were only for the main screen which was now clear of all Free Fleet markers.

              The Kalu fleet was still coming through their jump point, they pushed through the debris of those that had come through before.

              The noise that came from Falhu’s throat was pure anger filled with unaltered promise.

             
I will destroy the Free Fleet, I will cleanse them and every planet that might make a race other than Kalu. I will burn their planets and dens as they have burned my fleet.

              “We move on, we will split off towards Kafam and Nexus.” Falhu said, the other Kalu looking away and tending to their stations. No one wanted to be the next to have their throat bit open.

             
Orshpa has given me a great honor to lead the biggest Kalu fleet in history in his name. I will not let him down. They might have destroyed nearly a fifth of my fleet but we are many. Still nine-hundred-thousand follow. Even if we take those losses in every system we will make it to our targets. We will carry out grand leader Orshpa’s orders.

              “Get rid of this,” Falhu said, stepping over the dead Kalu at his feet, disgust pulling his mouth back to show armored teeth with purpled pieces of Kalu flesh still within them.

Chapter Fall back

              Bregend’s fleet transited into Quarst as a single body. Information started populating screens as the fleet of forty-three pushed towards Worshun.

              “System is clear, all ships are clear of the system, looks like they got our warning,” Qurv said from his spot at sensors.

              “We’re being hailed by Planetary Governor Elisati,” Kyle said, looking to Bregend.

              “Shouldn’t keep her waiting, put it on screen,” Bregend said, looking to the screen. He didn’t try to adjust himself or try to look powerful, he was here for a job. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to enjoy it, but Elisati had come back for her people. He understood that kind of responsibility to stay with her people no matter what. Putting a face on in front of her would have been an insult to both of them.

              “Commander Bregend, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances,” Elisati said with the motions of a Dovark smile that didn’t quite touch her eyes.

              “As you say Planetary Governor,” Bregend replied.

              “Elisati, please. Now I have a plan, it might be a bit unconventional, but it will mean that any forces that try to clear off Worshun will be in for a damned nasty surprise.” She said.

              Bregend didn’t understand Dovark physiology, but he could sense the chill in her words and the hunger that lay behind them.

              “I’ve tried quite a few plans that most would have thought as unconventional in my time with the

              Free Fleet. What are you thinking, Pl…Elisati,” he asked, leaning forward in his chair conspiratorially, the looks they shared were as hard and merciless as rail cannon rounds.

              “Well you see if we can draw them onto the…”

                                                                      ***

              Yasu moved in her modified HAPA, move was an inelegant way of saying what she was doing with the massive machine. It
danced
moving in a way that only a few HAPA pilots could.

              Tully and Moft might be Avarians bred to be warriors and some of the best HAPA pilots, but even they could hardly keep up with their commander and charge that they were supposed to be protecting.

              “Move it up Dox!” Yasu yelled to the usually aggressive HAPA trained commander.

              “You heard the commander slackers! Get your rears in gear!” He said, Yasu’s command abilities allowed her to listen in on the channel.

              They were in a simulated valley, moving down towards a city that had been overrun with Kalu. Commandos were racing from cover to cover, laying fire into the aggressive Kalu. HAPA’s bounded across the planet’s surface, the weak gravity making them adapt from their normal one-point-two Earth gravities, or one Union gravities.

              It was a hard balance to go fast enough to be of use, and not jump too high so as to be seen by all the Kalu and hammered by lasers.

             
Fucking lasers.
Yasu thought, her teeth clamping together as she moved, firing her dual cannons as missiles fled her dual packs.

              “Connolly, bring up the right side. Hallu get your people into line and dig in, we’ll hold here. Dennis, I want the mules brought up, this is no time to be sparing the ammunition!” Yasu yelled. Her commanders yellowing up as HAPA’s moved into position, powered armor wearing Commandos dug in and the ammunition mules and the techs that roamed with them moved up to pass out ammunition or fix a commando’s armor. There was no need for medics on the battlefield. Either a person’s suit would save them with the tourniquets and hellfire, or they were too far gone to make it back to a shuttle and the medical chairs.

                                                                      ***

              Bok Soo looked over Yasu’s exercise that was playing out on Floaters hull, not on the planet they were seeing in their simulation.

              He chewed on his gum sullenly, remembering when the simulations had been real, when the Kalu had been just meters away, swarming over the red-dustbowl of Heija. They took massive casualties but they kept coming, one attack was blunted but two new ones sprouted from other directions.

              He held the desk in front of him, closing his eyes and breathing for a few moments before shaking the memories away.

             
More like hitting the pause until later.

              “How are the simulations going?” Foshunti asked, his strong hand coming on Bok Soo’s shoulder.

              Bok Soo and Foshunti had come to know one another better than anyone except family could know another person.

              “Good, keeps the Commando’s minds off of sitting here,” Bok Soo said, his voice souring slightly.

              “Just so that we can keep thinking about it,” Foshunti said, coming around to the table and laying his hands on it. Looking at the holographic images of Floater’s entire Commando contingent battling against a massive Kalu force.