Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) (21 page)

Chapter Twenty Eight

Ship Master Andros Venter commanded his ship, the Monarch had acquired light damage. The Fleet Commander’s gambit paid off, their attack had damaged the seemingly indestructible Ra’a’zani ship. Even though the Ra’a’zani realized the danger of the attack in time to evade most of the weapons fire, the attack has crippled their drives. Their ability to evade the next attack had been diminished. Andros saw Johanna give out orders to the four light cruisers and the two remaining heavy cruisers to surround the Ra’a’zani ship from the top and bottom. The light cruisers adjusted their course so that they come parallel with the Ra’a’zani, while the heavy cruisers will go for a single pass. The Monarch and the battleship Claymore were turning around get to the Ra’a’zani ship from behind. Andros received orders from Johanna for all ships to open fire with all weapons. Perhaps their attack disabled some of the Ra’a’zani defenses. Just as he was about to order his ship to target the enemy ship with missiles and lasers, his screen started getting updates, and Sensor Handler yelled out,

“The enemy ship is firing missiles, and their primary weapon!”

Andros was about to order his ship to evade when he realized that none of the Ra’a’zani fire was pointed at his ship.

“Damn! All power to the drives, get us on them! Target all remaining missiles and lock on with lasers. Fire lasers as they get in range!” Andros ordered. But he knew that no matter what he did, he couldn’t stop the attack now heading towards the cruisers.

***

The Ra’a’zani warship, Blood Claw, released hundreds of missiles – the Pasha’ka – at the human light cruisers. Their Larsha’ka targeted the two heavy cruisers. Firing three bolts at each. The light cruisers were in a spread out formation, able to use their point defense to cover each other. Soon the space between the Ra’a’zani ship and the human light cruisers was filled with shells. The human ships created a wall of fire between them. But the Ra’a’zani Pasha’ka were advanced, maneuverable, and fast. The human fire wall was taking down Pasha’ka rapidly but the light cruiser crews could see that they wouldn’t get them all. Seventeen missiles passed through to the light cruisers. Light cruiser Rogue got hit with four missiles, two struck the forward section of the ship, with the remaining two hitting the middle. The blasts of the Pasha’ka blew holes in the ship, and a moment later it exploded. The light cruiser Viper was hit by five missiles, its fate was the same. The light cruiser Independence was struck with seven missiles, the first two hit the ship in the middle, breaking it in half, the last five slammed into the two parts of the ships that were drifting apart from each other, obliterating them. The light cruiser Ajax was hit with only one missile, the resulting explosion blowing off almost half of the ships forward section. But the ship survived.

The heavy cruisers Sword and Tempest knew that they had no way of surviving the Ra’a’zani Larsha’ka. The heavy cruiser Sword was too damaged to try to evade or turn its bottom side to the incoming fire. The Larsha’ka hit the Sword in the back end of the ship, the second hitting the already damaged forward section. The Larsha’ka breached the Sword’s hull, the atmosphere started leaking out, and the energy discharged into the Sword’s already fluctuating power grid feedback to its reactors, the countermeasures failed just before the third Larsha’ka hit, but the ship was already doomed, it exploded in a flash of white fire.

The Tempest attempted to evade the Ra’a’zani fire, moving out of the way of the first bolt, but the second hit its hull, destroying their right side missile launch tubes, which exploded in a violent blast, then  another bolt slammed into Tempest, finishing the wounded ship off.

***

Vit’r’an watched as his attack destroyed five out of the six ships the Blood Claw attacked. Again, some of the humans managed to survive. He was about to order another attack when an alert sounded. The two heavy human ships were firing their Pasha’ka and Tarsha’ka. The salvo of the Pasha’ka was less than what it was the last time when they managed to get four of them through, but Vit’r’an wasn’t taking any chances he ordered the Srasah’uk used as soon as a frequency was locked. The human Tarsha’ka on the other hand  were becoming troublesome, with the Blood Claw’s hull integrity compromised they will start incurring damage. Vit’r’an ordered the ship in a roll to dissipate and spread out the heat, and then ordered his ships maneuvering into an evading pattern. Although he knew that with their lowered maneuverability they couldn’t escape the Tarsha’ka beams. And soon the two heavy ships would turn and reach him, their mass driver could very well destroy his ship. Vit’r’an almost snarled, he wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Target their heavy ships. Fire when ready!” Vit’r’an said, and watched as his Larsha’ka cannons turned, locked and fired. Then the hull plates on the Blood Claw moved again revealing the Pasha’ka launchers. Hundreds of Pasha’ka launched out of the Blood Claw.

“Dakar! We are getting a communication from Earth base thirteen!” An Ra’a’zani on the comms said. Vit’r’an looked at him, “I’m busy whatever they want, they can wait!”

“But Dakar, they report that they are under attack from the humans and that they can’t reach any other base on the planet. They say that all Ra’a’zani on the ground have gone silent!”

Vit’r’an looked at him in shock, he understood then. He should have realized it sooner, these ships were here to help liberate the system. They were in contact with the humans on Earth. Every base on the planet going silent at the same moment wasn’t coincidence. The humans had started an attack on all Ra’a’zani bases on the planet. Vit’r’an felt such rage, he looked at the human ships bearing down on his ship. He wanted to win, but knew that it was unlikely. His ship will not survive another attack from the human mass drivers. And as soon as they get in range they will fire. Vit’r’an would make them pay for it, yes, but he would die in the process. And even if he survived, somehow managed to destroy all of the human ships. The attacks on the planet had already happened. He would go back to the core in shame. The first Ra’a’zani Overlord to lose a world. He would never become Rakar. The humans had cost him too much.

No. Vit’r’an decided, he wouldn’t live past this. But before he died, he would make the humans pay a price unlike anything they could have imagined. “Arm the Destra’ka.” Vit’r’an said viciously. His crew turned to look at them, but his expression quickly spurred them into motion.

“Destra’ka is armed Dakar.” A Taskmaster said.

“Target the planet. Put it on a course around the human ships.” Vit’r’an said. The Taskmaster did as Vit’r’an asked.

“It’s done Dakar.” Taskmaster said.

“Fire.” Vit’r’an said. He watched on his terminal, as the Destra’ka left the cargo area of his ship. Its navigation system kicked in and it started on the curved course that will bring it to the human home world. Vit’r’an knew that the humans would remember this day for all time.

***

Johanna tried to keep the destruction of her ships from affecting her. But each death affected her greatly. She saw the Ra’a’zani ship fire their energy weapons at the Monarch and the battleship Claymore, and then their missiles. She didn’t need to issue any orders, the commanders of the two ships already gave the orders for evasive maneuvering and the point defense. Her ships lasers were having an effect, the Ra’a’zani were rolling and using evading maneuvering to escape her ships laser fire. Her missiles weren’t faring well, they were being detonated by whatever was the Ra’a’zani defensive system, but now they were being detonated at a much greater range, and not all at once. But one by one, her missiles disappeared.

The Monarch and Claymore were firing their railguns creating a wall against the Ra’a’zani missiles. Then the Ra’a’zani energy weapons reached their ships. The commander of the Claymore had turned its bottom side to the enemy fire. The four energy bolts hit the Claymore’s hull mangling the entire length of the ship. But the Claymore survived. Ship master Andros Venter on the other hand, didn’t bother to spin the ship he plunged through, the energy bolts hitting the dreadnoughts doubleheaded forward section. The Monarch shrugged off the Ra’a’zani powerful weapon and kept going, losing only some forward railguns and two laser turrets.

Johanna noticed another signature appear on her holo, but quickly Turiel concluded that it was not fired at them. And its signature was strange, having a big energy reading. She concluded that it might be an escape pod. But since it wasn’t a threat to her fleet, she put it out of her mind.

The Ra’a’zani missiles were still speeding towards the Monarch and the Claymore. Their point defense systems trying to take down as much as possible. The Ra’a’zani missiles had great maneuverability, but the shear amount of shells that the Monarch and the Claymore sent out was overcoming their better technology. Out of the hundreds of missiles the Ra’a’zani fired, only nine went through. Three hitting the Claymore amidship, one of the missiles got lucky, it penetrated inside the hull and exploded. The explosion resulted in the Claymore losing power. Then another Ra’a’zani energy bolt struck in the same spot, and Claymore exploded.

The remaining six Ra’a’zani missiles hit the forward section of Monarch. Three of the missiles hit the right axe-head of the ship, at the exact same spot that the Ra’a’zani energy weapon struck. The missiles penetrated inside, and exploded. The fire reached the forward cargo hold of the Monarch and the air inside fuelled the explosion further. Johanna felt the ship shake, as almost half of the dreadnought’s right axe-head blew up, the debris flying in all directions, a big chunk of the hull flew in the direction of the Citadel, glancing off the side leaving a huge surface gash across it. But the Monarch kept going. The bulkheads between the right axe-head and the rest of the ship coming down, cutting that part of the ship off the rest. Even after losing an entire section of the ship, the dreadnought class was operational. The rest of the ship functioning at near full capacity. Turned to Andros.

“Ship Master, fight your ship.” She said. She had lost most of her fleet, and the rest of her ships were unable to move and help. There was no point for her to direct the combat from the c-board. It was all up to Andros and the Monarch.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Vit’r’an watched as the big human ship advanced forward, even after losing a big chunk of its hull it still kept going. Its Tarsha’ka weapons still firing, the closer they got the more damage their beams did. Vit’r’an could read heat increases in more than half sectors of his ship. Hull integrity was almost below twenty percent, and more and more hull breaches appeared on his terminal. His ship had depleted its Pasha’ka supplies, but it was still firing the Larsha’ka at the incoming human ship. Which was shrugging them off. Its hull too thick for his weapon to inflict serious damage fast enough. The Blood Claw had ravaged the forward section of the ship. It was venting atmosphere at several hull breaches. But Vit’r’an knew that the big ship was too massive and powerful for it to die before his ship did. Then Vit’r’an saw the human ship roll and adjust its course, bringing all of its top weapons to bear. Vit’r’an knew that this were the last moments of his life.

***

Ship Master Andros Venter ordered his ship to roll and adjusted the course, so that his ship would pass over the Ra’a’zani ship. All of his top weapons would be able to fire. The Monarch was sustaining serious damage, but it was still going strong. Fleet Commander Farkas was right, the dreadnought class warships were fortresses. As long as the Citadel was safe, the ship would keep going. Monarch had lost more than half of his weapons from the middle and the forward sections, Andros hoped that what he had left would be enough. He didn’t want to use the torpedoes, they didn’t know the range or even what the Ra’a’zani defense weapon was. And he didn’t want to have a nuclear weapon explode in front of his ship.

Andros waited for his ship to enter the optimal range of his kinetic weapons, all the time his ship was assaulted by the enemy energy weapons which were eating at its hull. Then it was time.

“Open fire!” Andros ordered. And Monarch’s railguns, turrets, and laser weapons fired on the Ra’a’zani ship.

***

The human warship, the Monarch, dreadnought class, advanced above the Ra’a’zani ship Blood Claw, fire erupting from its weapons, even as air and debris flew off its hull leaving a trail of gas and metal in its wake. Thousands of 150mm shells were fired from the Monarch’s railguns, hundreds of 700mm bolts of metal were fired from the Monarch’s double-barreled turrets, three of the Monarch’s still working 600mm lens laser turrets were sending down fire on the Ra’a’zani ship. The space between them was Hell. But just as the human ship spew fire at the Ra’a’zani, so did they return in kind. Ra’a’zani energy weapon, the Larsha’ka cannons fired on the human ship. The energy bolts disappearing as they clashed with the incoming metal rain. Those few that passed through that Hell, reached the Monarch scorching its hull. But like an indomitable beast it just kept coming, pieces of its skin flailing about, its front opened up like a gaping wound, its life blood spewing from dozens of breaches. The Ra’a’zani ship was firing its maneuvering thrusters, its drives had been brought to the brink of what they could handle, and still it was not enough. The Monarch’s lasers seared the Ra’a’zani hull, the scale like plates of their ship melting under the immense heat.

And then the rain of metal fire struck the Ra’a’zani ship. Its slow, cumbersome attempts at evasion were simply not enough to save it. The small railgun explosive shells clobbered the hull where it was intact, and punctured the hull where it was already weakened. Then, the massive 700mm bolts of metal smashed down on the Ra’a’zani ship’s hull. They cleaved through the Ra’a’zani hull, parting it like paper. Their mass and speed converted to pure destructive power. The bolts punched right through the ship. The return fire from the Ra’a’zani ship stopped, its drives exploding in small contained detonations. The ship was dead in space, nothing but a piece of debris floating in the endlessness of space. But the rain did not stop, the fire of Hell descended on the wreck smashing it further. Pieces of it flying off in hundreds of different directions, the insides of the ship opened up, its skin smashed inward. The bodies of the crew mingled amongst the pieces of their dead brethren that were sliced apart by the metal shells of the rain. The Ra’a’zani ship’s spine broke, the ship splitting in half. And still the halves were hammered by the rain, pulverized into smaller and smaller chunks. Then finally the rain stopped. Its source, the dreadnought Monarch, moving forward spent, scarred, bleeding, and mangled.

***

As the Ra’a’zani ship fell apart, the weapon it deployed – The Destra’ka – continued on its path. Its curved course soon brought it in the view of its target, Earth. The Destra’ka reached the Earth’s atmosphere falling through it, its plating and an energy field keeping it safe as it burned a red streak across the sky. It passed the white clouds and then fell into the ocean. Its drives functioning perfectly even under water, pushing it further down at an amazing speed. Now going directly towards the ocean bed, the steam of evaporated water was left behind it on its path. As it drew closer to the ocean floor, the tip of the Destra’ka shone with a greenish energy. It slammed into the ground and kept going, burrowing through it on the way to its true target – the Earth’s core. Three hours later it reached its destination, and the Destra’ka detonated.

***

The Star Gazer moved above the Ra’a’zani base in the asteroid belt, on the dwarf planet Ceres. Jacob felt the tears on his cheeks, but did nothing to stop them. The had won, the Earth was free, the asteroid belt was free, and there were no more Ra’a’zani warships in the Solar system. The Ra’a’zani cargo ships were on their way out of the system, going back to the Ra’a’zani space. He felt a touch of fear for the way that the single Ra’a’zani warship fought against the Olympus fleet, but his happiness and relief were too much for it to worry him now. The rest of his bridge crew were jumping around, hugging and kissing. Finally, they were free. Glancing at the screen in front of him, Jacob saw the two Olympus ships almost reach the belt. Getting his elation under control, he contacted the Earth.

***

Anissa Novak sat in the CIC of the submarine Lord, crying. Her crew too was displaying their happiness in various ways. Some cried like she did, other were screaming at the top of their lungs, but all were elated. She got herself under control just as the FTL comm officer approached her, telling her that there was a communication for her. She walked over, sat at the comm station and accepted the communication. The first thing she heard was, “We did it.” Jacob said. And Anissa, her voice shaking responded, “Yes, we did.”

***

The mood on the dreadnought Monarch was somber, Johanna was in torment. She had lost most of her command. Her remaining ships were wrecks, Sovereign was spinning slowly, its drives were blown off, it would never again move under its own power. The light cruiser Ajax had its entire front section disfigured, but it could move. The rest were all lost, with their entire crews. The light cruisers – Viper, Independence and Rogue, heavy cruisers – Sword, Tempest and Unity, battleship Claymore. All lost, under her command. She was in shock, the Ra’a’zani ship had almost destroyed them all. Not knowing what else to do, she ordered the rescue operations for the Sovereign, its crew would need to be transferred to the Monarch.