From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (50 page)

              Narvu looked at the Kalu with cold calculation, they had been ripped apart, and there was seventeen thousand of them left now. That number was doing nothing but rolling down.

             
Still they will make it to Daestramus.
He thought, knowing that it was true.

              “Prepare the cities to fire along the horizon,” Narvu said to Vela, looking to his helper.

              “Yes sir,” she said, her Slevarans colors showing her receding shock at the firepower they had unleashed on the Kalu formation.

              Most people were probably feeling that now.

              Narvu had been going over the plans since they knew the Kalu were coming. He’d expected the cannons to be damned powerful, but knowing that and seeing it was a world of difference.

              Kalu started breaking atmosphere and heading for the cities. The cities opened side hatches that focused a percentage of the main aperture's strength. They caught a good many Kalu, but it was like trying to catch rain with a spoon now.

              He winced as the first Kalu ship made its ‘landing’.

              The star-warrior fired into Felso city, cutting great holes in the reinforced but unarmored structure. It didn’t turn and only barely slowed, smashing its front end into the city. It went in a few decks before coming to a halt. Narvu looked to the fuzzy sensor feeds from inside the city. The Star-warrior opened and Kalu surged out into the cities.

              The other Kalu seemed to take their lead from that Star-warrior.

              Cities lasers stuttered and then failed as safety after safety was tripped and shut down the whole operation. Star-destroyers moved at a sedate pace, releasing their fighters in billowing clouds. The fighter’s grouped up as they headed towards the cities, their lasers cutting into the structures.

              Fires started, explosions rocked the cities and Daestramus started burning.

              “Move the Commandos outside the cities,” Narvu said, looking at the maps. “Let’s see how much they like the cold,” he said, his smile mirroring the temperatures above his command center.

              “We have an incoming message from Bregend,” Lofa said from her position as communications commander.

              “Patch him on through, if it’s the commander do that every time, he has priority,” Narvu said, not chastising but rather amending her actions.

              “Yes sir,” she said with a small smile.

              “Commander,” Narvu said, seeing the bridge of the Dal come into view.

              “Commander,” Bregend said, something like humor meddling in the back of his tone.

              “What can I do you for?” Narvu asked, looking up from his table but not straightening from his position.

              “I have a number of Commando units that are eager to help out Daestramus if you would be interested in their assistance,” Bregend said, there was something in Bregend’s voice that tickled Narvu’s memory.

             
Ahh crap, he told me about the Commandos before. I must have forgot; I’d been planning this defense with only my forces in mind. How many times did I think what it would be like to have a few thousand more Commandos?

              “Certainly Commander, we would be delighted by their presence,” Narvu said, breaking free of his lolly-gagging. He hadn’t been sleeping much in recent days.

              “Good! I have nine hundred thousand Commandos as well as bomber’s MEF’s and my fleet at your disposal. I hope the Kalu don’t mind a short stay,” Bregend said.

              “Oh I hope so,” Narvu said.

              They brought their people onto the line and started laying out what they were going to do. Fighters and bombers started to make their appearance as the Free Fleet looked to reducing the Star-Destroyers across the planet. Rail cannon rounds ripped through the slow moving crafts, ripping flaming holes in their carcasses, sending them down to Daestramus’ embrace.

              Fighters and bombers attacked the Kalu fighter swarms.

              The Free Fleet opened their shuttle bays and Commando-laden shuttles headed in towards the planet.

              The battle in space had ended, the battle on Daestramus’ surface had just begun.

              “Cut orders for the Henry-Classed Destroyers to split into two groups, half for Sol, half for Quarst. Make sure all the resupply points along their path will get them sorted out before they get to their destinations,” Bregend said, looking to Mills.

              “Gotcha,” Mills said, turning to his new work.

                                                                      ***

              Falhu looked at the city around him. It must have supported a good many sentients, yet none of them remained in the city.

             
We were tricked,
he thought, sharpening his claws as he wound his way down from the cities peak.

              “Destroy it, destroy it all, we will fight them on the plains of this planet!” He growled, his voice being projected into ever Kalu’s headset. They set into the destruction of the cities with gusto. They had been cooped up on their ships for too long, now they were able to vent their anger.

              Falhu barely watched, cutting down whatever he saw in his path and heading down towards the surface of the planet. He saw the Free Fleet small craft fly into the planet’s atmosphere, they jumped on the Kalu fighters. The Kalu fighters were waging a glorious battle outside the cities.

              He pulled his eyes from the sight, if the Kalu and the Free Fleet were evenly matched in any way, he gave the advantage to the Free Fleet. He needed to use the time in order to bring the planet’s natural inhabitants under contact. If he started wandering across the planet without them under fire or claw, then the Free Fleet would start coming for him. Not a nice proposition in his mind.

             
We were supposed to show them the might of the Kalu, instead we were shown the foolishness of our ways, of our preparations. We need to win on this planet. Without victory then the Kalu will fall.
He tried to banish these thoughts from his mind but they lurked in recesses of his mind.

Chapter Well isn’t this a mess

              Empress looked over the reports coming from the rest of the Union. Her Empire had thankfully been left alone. Salchar had already sent orders for all of the Commandos within the Empire to mobilize and take any transports they could to assist the other systems that were under attack. Empress had made sure that none of her politicians had put their manipulators in.

              Kafam had fallen, Quarst was once again in the Kalu sights.

              Jakram was still fighting, but they had the defenses and the people to defeat the Kalu. In fact, it looked like unless the Kalu started to change their tactics Jakram wouldn’t be too bad. Ershue was also under attack and they’d been fighting heavily for a number of weeks, they needed fresh bodies and reinforcements.

              Oolta’s defense had been short and sweet. Empress wished that the rest of the fighting had been as easy.

              The Orvunut’s customized powered armor and HAPA’s working together in an environment that put the Kalu at a severe disadvantage was a winning combination. Already merchant ships were moving to the planet’s atmosphere and dropping supplies to the residents. The Free Fleet group overlooking the planet had destroyed anything that looked capable of flying.

              Drvntrni was a war of attrition. Empress was watching it closely. The Kalu had landed and were fighting the wildlife instead of the native sentient Shafio.

             
Maybe they think the wildlife are sentient, they’re deadly enough,
she thought, also mentally reminding herself to never take a vacation on the planet.

              The Merchertevak birds were getting fat off of the Kalu they’d drugged, stalked and killed. Their diamond sharp beaks opening the Kalu’s armor with deadly precision.

              If the Kalu stayed on the planet, then they would remain the prey of the planet. If they left, then it rose a whole bunch of issues for the Union and primarily Empress. She wished that they could simply bomb the Kalu ships like they had on other planets, the problem was the water. If they blew up the Kalu ships, then it would send massive shortwaves through the planet’s seas. It could destroy the Shafio’s habitat and make their planet useless to them for generations. It could also kill a lot of them with the pressure.

              Not something that Empress was going to condone.

              Urshval’s forces were also being uprooted from their post and moved to help Daestramus. The Kalu had just landed, their numbers were a fraction of what they had been, but they were hunters, not starship pilots. On the ground the game could change completely. Bregend wanted to bring as much fire down onto them as possible.

              Empresses’ eyes shifted over the map, looking to Sol.

              The Kalu were now two distinct groups heading for Mars with Hachiro and Nancy in orbit, and Earth. The HCD’s were hammering them and more were coming from Bregend, but it looked like they would make it to their destinations. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to Earth if the Kalu made it to the unprotected planet.

              She didn’t like what Earth had done to the Free Fleet and she was in no rush to try and repair their trading relationships. They had destroyed five Kuruvian traders who didn’t recognize them as the security force of the system during their whole attack on the Free Fleet.

              Yet she was a leader of her people, she saw her people everyday, working living and pushing on. She knew that not all the people of Earth wanted to fight the Free Fleet and she knew not all of them deserved to be allowed to die by the Kalu.

              She had mixed feelings about Kafam for these reasons. The one thing that stopped her from being angry with Salchar for not helping them out, was their inability to ask another for help.

              This universe wasn’t nice and it wasn’t pretty, things seemed intent on pushing you into the dirt time and time again. Working together was the only way to move forward. Being to proud to ask for help, that wasn’t a strength. It was the worst type of weakness to have, and it had ended in the loss of an entire planet.

              Her eyes started tracing down the corridor, looking to Chaleel and AIH. They were close traders with the Kuruvians and the Free Fleet. Empress had many dealings with both groups and found them to be rather accommodating. AIH was fighting a guerrilla styled battle across their planet. It was hard and bloody like any fight with the Kalu, but they were holding on.

              Chaleel had Salchar watched over them. She’d seen the videos of the Free Fleet warships acting like deadly leviathans, dropping fire down onto the Kalu, actually pushing them back. Free Fleet fighters and their larger ship’s PDS were swarmed with Kalu fighters making it slow.

              HAPA’s and the Chaleel’s tanks were aiding in the fight against the Kalu. They needed more small craft to deal with the Kalu fighters.

             
Though they have been targeting the Destroyers. I don’t think there’d be more than a handful of them left on Chaleel,
she thought, hoping that the Kalu fighters would just expend all of their power plant fuel already.

              Parnmal was looking after all of the refugees that hadn’t fled to the Kuruvian Empire. Billions of people had added to the Kuruvian worlds.

              They were pumping out weapons of war as fast as possible. HAPA’s missiles, fuel, parts, ammunition, all of it was being shipped across the Union to those that needed it to stave off the Kalu’s claws and fangs.

              The Union was burning, the Kalu were finally having their second teaching war. At times it was hard to not despair when looking at all of the conflict going on. The Kalu still outnumbered the Free Fleet fighting them. It wouldn’t be hard for the Free Fleet to fail and go the way of Kafam.

              If supplies didn’t get to those planets then there would be less people on the lines, less ammunition when it was needed most. She wiped her face and looked away from the holographic display of the Union.

              The war had entered a new stage. A stage that would be fought on planets, with Free Fleet plasmid blades, HAPA’s, and powered armor. Against the lasers, sharpened claws, and teeth of the Kalu.

             
In war there are no victors, just losers. I wonder whether we will lose a lot or a little.
She thought, turning away from the hologram. She had a busy day ahead of her, the Free Fleet were going to have all the damned ammunition, guns and parts they could ever desire.

              She had promised Salchar before this war started that the Kuruvian Empire would make sure that they were never without their necessary supplies. She wasn’t a lady to go back on her promises.