Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (27 page)

Turning to look at Captain Caqel full in the face, he spoke again.
“I want you to take a shuttle to the base and take command.”

             
“But, sir--”

             
“No, I need someone there to take command and bring the survivors home. If all this goes wrong and the Shenkar fleet is able to hit Earth before we are ready, then that pocket of men and women will be all that is left of free humans and they will need a competent leader.”

             
Captain Caqel looked as if he wanted to argue more but then said in a resigned voice, “Yes, sir, I will do all I can to keep them alive and bring them home in the event things do go bad.”

             
Captain Caqel saluted. Then, as soon as the Admiral returned the salute, he turned and left for a shuttle.

             
Admiral Kelvin turned back to the bridge and waited. Several minutes later, he got the report he was waiting for.

             
“Admiral, all fighters are in position and Captain Caqel’s shuttle has departed,” came the voice of Lieutenant Sukita.

             
“Very well . . . all fighters forward, three-quarters speed. Match speed with the fighters and follow. Let’s take her out of this asteroid field . . . everyone to their battle stations,” commanded Admiral Kelvin.

Slowly, the screen of F-77 Scorpion fighters broke the asteroid field, bringing them within sensor range of the Shenkar
. Seconds later came the EDF
Sacrifice
.

Dreadnought
Krazzeen
, Bridge Control

              “Commander Shizta, contact!”

             
Shizta wheeled about and strode to the scanner.“What are the configuration and numbers?”

             
“Light fighter-class, judging by their armaments. Numbers estimated at just over three hundred. A capital ship follows closely behind, configuration is . . . battlecruiser.” The last word was spoken softly.

             
“Battlecruiser? Let me see it,” demanded Shizta.

             
The sensor officer pressed a few buttons, and an image of a battlecruiser appeared close up on the small screen.

             
“That is Meshtrell design . . . they were destroyed decades ago. How is it that one of their battlecruisers came to be here? Let me see the fighters close up.”

             
Once again, the sensor officer pressed a few buttons, and a close-up of several fighter craft appeared on the screen.

             
“That, however, is nothing I have ever seen. I studied the Meshtrell technology, and this isn’t anything they had when we destroyed their race. Very well, let them try and run, for we will hunt them down and kill them.”

             
“Sir, enemy fighters are assuming an attack vector . . . it appears they plan to attack.”

             
Taken aback at hearing this, Shizta stood there, mouth half open for several seconds before he found his voice once again.

             
“They are attacking?!?” he said, surprised. Then, in a more commanding voice, he continued, “No matter, let them come. They will suffer the same fate as any who have tried to stand against us in the past. Divert energy from the rear shields to the forward shields. I do not want anything getting through.” Raising his hand and closing a fist in a crushing motion, he said, “Launch all fighters and have them spread out in front.”

             
After several minutes, the operations officer signaled that all fighters had been deployed and were in position.

             
“All ahead full; all fighters break and attack!”

             
Seven hundred Shenkar fighters surged forward toward the unknown fighters and away from the
Krazzeen
.

Necro Squadron
, Hidden in the Gas Giant Designation N-6

              Liam studied the dense gas above him through the canopy of his fighter. Looking hard through the gas, he tried to spot the enemy above but couldn’t find anything. Slowly, he eased his fighter upward until the gas cleared enough to see through. He was met with an awesome sight: the massive hull of the
Krazzeen
slowly passing over the planet. Quickly, Liam eased his fighter back down into the gas.

             
“Necro Squadron, the
Krazzeen
is now passing overhead. Ready yourselves.”

             
Liam waited, counting slowly to two hundred. Once he finished, he spoke again. “Okay, everyone, let’s move out.”

             
Liam slammed his throttle forward, his fighter exploding upward. By the time he broke the surface of the planet’s gases, his fighter was at maximum speed, with all of Necro Squadron close behind. Together, they streaked toward the
Krazzeen
. No fire from the
Krazzeen
’s aft cannons came.
Perhaps we can pull this off
, thought Liam. Slowly, they closed, Liam’s heart racing as he watched the distance indicator count down.

             
“Necro Squadron . . . standby,” Liam said.

             
He watched the distance indicator meter by meter until finally the number he had been waiting for lit up.

             
“FIRE!” was all Liam said.

             
Nine antimatter torpedoes streaked away toward the
Krazzeen
. Liam engaged his afterburners, slamming himself back into his seat as his fighter streaked in pursuit of the torpedoes and away from the rest of Necro Squadron. Evan’s voice came over Liam’s comm unit.

             
“Ghost . . . Liam, do you really think this will work?”

             
“Tim said there is a good chance it will, and that’s good enough for me. But if not, you are in charge. Get them away and continue the fight for me.”

             
Liam watched as the rest of Necro Squadron peeled off, setting a vector that would take them into the battle that was commencing far ahead.

Dreadnought
Krazzeen
, Bridge Control

              Shizta watched the view screen ahead of him. So far, the battle wasn’t going as well as he originally had foreseen. These humans, whoever they were, were inflicting severe damage against the
Krazzeen
’s fighters. Even with them having the two-to-one odds advantage, the enemy had suffered only minimal losses so far. Shizta, however, wasn’t worried; soon the
Krazzeen
would bring its energy cannons within range, and they would unleash death upon these humans. Suddenly, alarms blared throughout the bridge, an indicator of incoming fire. Spinning around, he looked to the officer manning the sensor station.

             
“Sir, we have enemy contacts.”

             
“I know this. We all know this, seeing as our fighter pilots are currently engaged with them,” Shizta said in a condescending voice.

             
“Sir, the contacts are behind us: ten incoming fighters.”

             
“Ten? What can ten do against the mighty
Krazzeen
?”

             
“Sir, incoming torpedoes . . . sir, they are antimatter torpedoes.”

             
Shizta stepped toward the sensor station and looked at the screen. Nine torpedoes streaked toward the
Krazzeen
while nine fighters streaked away from the
Krazzeen
toward the battle ahead. Once he examined the data, he smiled to himself.

             
“Those torpedoes aren’t even aimed for a vital area . . . these humans obviously aren’t too bright to launch all those torpedoes at our landing bay. I doubt those torpedoes are even enough to bring down our shields. Regardless, even if they manage to damage our landing bay, we can just recover our pilots through the launch bay. Still, we can’t have them getting away with this . . . fire all energy cannons at those retreating fighters.”

             
Cannons opened up all over the port side of the
Krazzeen
as they attempted to destroy the Necro Squadron. Still, something nagged at Shizta, as if he was missing something. Then he realized it--nine fighters streaked away, but there had been ten contacts. Looking at the scanner, he searched for the tenth fighter, and after a few seconds, he found it. A lone fighter followed the incoming torpedoes.
But why?
was all Shizta could think. Then it dawned on him, or rather he had an idea: suicide attack. Checking the armament on the lone fighter, he saw that it still retained its antimatter torpedo.

             
“All aft cannons, open fire! Take that fighter out!” yelled Shizta to fire control.

Aft of the
Krazzeen

              The aft of the
Krazzeen
lit up as energy cannons opened fire. Liam maneuvered his fighter in attempts to avoid the incoming fire as he pulled energy away from his rear and strengthened his forward shields. The stars lit up as one of the
Krazzeen
’s shots hit one of the incoming torpedoes, causing it to explode. Liam hoped that wouldn’t happen again as they couldn’t afford to lose too many. Then the first torpedo hit the dreadnought in a brilliant explosion, followed by another. Soon, torpedo after torpedo impacted upon the
Krazzeen
’s shields in exactly the same spot. Liam held his breath as he flew at the
Krazzeen
and stole quick glances at his sensors. The final torpedo hit, and the already-weakened shields failed.

             
Liam’s fighter exploded through the opening in the shields and into the landing bay of the
Krazzeen
. Killing his afterburners and engaging his reverse thrusters, Liam’s fighter shook as it slowed dramatically. Coming to a halt, Liam’s fighter hovered inside the
Krazzeen
. Looking around, he saw far off in the distance the forward launching bay. It seemed the landing bay and launch bay were directly connected after all.

             
Liam looked down to see blue-scaled humanoids rushing forward toward his hovering fighter, brandishing energy rifles. Soon small-arms fire was impacting off Liam’s fighter to no avail. Squeezing the trigger on his flight stick, he fired. Explosions erupted all over as he maneuvered his fighter about. Shenkar warriors lay dead everywhere, either from direct fire from Liam’s cannons or as the result of an explosion. Liam edged his fighter forward, continuously pouring fire into anything he aimed at with death following.

             
After what seemed several minutes, his flight board chimed an indicator that his fighter had reached his destination. Maneuvering his fighter, he spotted his target. Typing quickly into his flight computer, he set a delay on his only torpedo, locked his target, and fired. The torpedo streaked away and impacted upon the interior bulkhead. It punched through the thin metal, lodging deep within. Without waiting, Liam spun his fighter about, pulled back on the throttle, and engaged his afterburners. As his fighter streaked forward toward the bow of the ship, Liam continued to fire his cannons into everything in front of him. Just as his fighter broke free of the
Krazzeen
, the torpedo exploded, and the
Krazzeen
died in space.

Dreadnought
Krazzeen
, Bridge Control

              The entire ship shook with a massive explosion, and then all the ship’s systems went dead. Shizta looked about as the emergency lights came on along with some systems.

             
“What happened?” he asked the sensor officer.

             
“It seems the intruding ship managed to detonate an antimatter torpedo near our shield generators. The result explosion has destroyed the generators and overloaded all systems. All major systems are down . . . shields and energy cannons not responding. Sir, we are defenseless.”

Shizta swallowed hard at this news, and just as he
wondered what else could go wrong, he got an answer.

             
“Commander, we have forty inbound enemy contacts. Analysis shows them to be heavy fighters.”

             
“Pull all our fighters back. We need to defend the
Krazzeen
long enough until we get our defenses back up.”