Legacy of the Guardians
by AJ Marks
Part 31
Admiral Dinen watched the scanners as the Boston and the patrol group split up leaving the fleet with a direct line of fire.
“We’re almost in range admiral.”
“Inform all ships to fire,” George said. He wanted to get that first shot in, especially with little knowledge of the capabilities of the enemy. He had no time for subtle tactics, and the idea of a head on attack seemed like the best idea at the moment. He chuckled to himself at the sheer lunacy of the idea. A head on attack against an unknown enemy, possibility the worst idea, yet it seemed so right.
Fighters swarmed into the battle, attacking any nearby ships probing for weakness. Enemy fighters moved to engage. Pilots and machines tested each other in the deadly dance. Around them deadly salvos went past as the fleet warships exchanged blows and organized fleets dissolved into chaos.
George watched the enemy seemed surprised by their appearance. Their reactions were slow. He expected the enemy to either fully engage or retreat back to the planet and the rest of the fleet. Instead they seemed to be so focused on Ahmed’s group they failed to see his fleet. Whatever the reason for their lack of focus, George wanted to maintain the upper hand.
The two fleets closed the distance, each side firing as fast and furious as they could. The human ships fared better than their allied ships. The constant war with the Skartians had improved their shields for battle. Among the ships the Seydlitz stood out as angel of death, weapons and shields designed for only one thing, battle. It was in its element, what it had been designed for.
The enemy fleet now outgunned and outnumbered began to withdraw back to the planet. Something George expected early on when they first engaged. Now they finally did something he had planned on. He wanted them to join, as looking on he spotted several enemy ships were damaged, though no source of power planet could be detected. Scanners did indicate a drop in weapon power and speed.
From the new command ship of the enemy fleet a single signal went out. The communications officer relayed it to the admiral, and he wondered what might happen next. Were they calling for reinforcements? They would have to fight now quickly and hope nothing major happened in the battle.
“Concentrate fire on the large ships, knock them out as quickly as possible,” George ordered.
He watched the orders as they were relayed. He looked back at the scanner watching the battle rage on. Fighters moved in and out even as the Seydlitz rocked with a hit. Shields held, and damage was minimal to his relief. The fleet joined the battle at the planet and he looked on at the chaos of the battle. A contest of skill and luck as everyone tried to live.
The two fleets seemed roughly equal in size and strength, surprising George. He expected the enemy fleet to be much stronger even as he coordinated an attack against a larger ship using some of the faster ships of the fleet. Their allies were doing fine, though some reported feeling strange at times, especially the further away from a human ship they were. He wondered if the enemy somehow used psychic power which they were immune to.
“Admiral, we have conformation of a large number of shuttle like craft heading to the planet’s surface,” he was told.
“Prepare the marines for ground deployment,” George ordered. He would have to clear a path to the surface next. “See if any fighters can break away and attack them as well.”
Their invading craft meant they still thought they could kill off the Dedians despite the ongoing battle. If their fighters could destroy a few shuttles, then the less craft that would reach the ground. One squadron descended upon the shuttles with vengeance, and George noticed they were Ilderian fighters.
He watched as enemy ships were put out of action, others destroyed and only a matter of time before the battle might be over. He kept an eye out for anything that might change that outcome, before spotting a large enemy ships approaching the planet.
“Alert all commands, new incoming ship,” George said, not wanting to be caught. This ships seemed twice as big as any other enemy ship.
He watched as it arrived on the battlefield and quickly engaged an Ilderian battlecruiser. Less than a minute it had destroyed it as it moved to the next Alliance ship.
“Reading massive power from the new ship,” he was told.
The impact of the new ship seemed to turn the tide of the battle in George’s eyes. He had to find a way to destroy, or disable that ship and quickly before it took out all of his ships. He gave a silent nod to the enemy for keeping such a trump card hidden. He had no reinforcements coming.
Looking at the tactical display to figure out what ships he could use even as the ship continued on to a Yettipian warship, it did not last any longer than the Ilderian battlecruiser. Most of his ships were engaged, he needed a plan to destroy that ship.
*****
Ahmed watched from the command chair as the new ship made its presence felt once more, taking out the Yettipian ship. Its weapons and shields seemed almost indestructible to him. If this ship was not neutralized soon the battle would be lost. He ordered the scanners to observe the power of the ship, maybe they could find a weakness.
They all watched closely for a few minutes as it engaged another smaller ship, quickly destroying that one as well. Ahmed noticed it before the scanner operator said anything, the power drop off when it fired. He suddenly had a reckless plan that might work.
“Get the admiral,” Ahmed said, waiting a few seconds before George’s face appeared on the screen.
“Captain?”
“Admiral, I think we have an idea for that new ship, it’s risky for you though,” Ahmed said, watching the admiral’s face.
“Tell me.”
“When it fires its main guns, there is a large power drop off in the shields, it is venerable at that moment,” Ahmed said.
He watched the admiral think about that for a few seconds.
“And the Seydlitz has the strongest shields in the fleet, we might survive a couple of blasts or more, form up with the Seydlitz and follow us in,” the admiral said.
Ahmed relayed the order and watched as the battlecruiser Calgary came up as well for an attack run on the large enemy ship.
“Power main guns to maximum, we have one shot at this,” Ahmed said. “Scanners, watch the enemy ship, relay the order to fire with their main weapon.”
He watched the scanner as the Seydlitz’s power increase and he realized every bit of power in that ship went to the shields while firing at the enemy ship. Nervous energy filled the bridge waiting for the moment to happen.
The enemy ship took noticed of the approaching ships, and turned to fire upon the lead ship, never realizing that there might be a plan behind their attack. The scanner officer indicated a power build up on the enemy ship. Ahmed prayed that his plan would work.
“Fire,” the scanner officer yelled out, breaking the silence on the bridge. The Boston opened fire as the Calgary opened fire a second later on the ship.
Ahmed watched the enemy ship and the Seydlitz as both were struck.
*****
George listened to the hum of the engines as every ounce of power went to the shields, hoping to block most of the damage. The scanners told him the enemy ship was about to fire, and gave him a very uncomfortable feeling, waiting to be fired upon.
The Seydlitz rocked under the massive impact of the enemy firepower. Several computers exploded in sparks as their circuits were overloaded by the attack. He felt himself jolted around and without the straps in the chair he would have been thrown across the bridge. He took a second to collect himself after the hit, hearing alarms of systems damaged. Yells of medical teams went out as the light came back on.
He quickly went over the systems, noticing that despite the impact, the ship was still operational, shields were still up, though the effectiveness had decreased.
“Weapons, open fire,” he ordered, hoping that the shots by the Calgary and Boston had done something on that ship.
He took several seconds to look at eth scanner even as the weapons officer carried out his orders. The Seydlitz contributed its firepower to the attack hoping that by firing at it they might be spared a second attack. Three battlecruiser combining their fire and for a moment he thought nothing had happened to the enemy ship, and the plan failed.
“Sir, no weapon recharge, enemy shields are fluctuating,” the scanner officer said. He looked for himself to see that the enemy ship had been damaged. It struggled with its shields even as they continued to fire.
“Bring more power to weapons,” George said. If they could bring down those shields they might be able to destroy that ship. He also knew if they were having shield problems, then their power was at its limit, which meant their weapons would be extremely slow to fire, or reduced damage.
“Enemy shields failing.”
George could not see damage being taken on the ship, and knew they had hit it badly. Even as the damage mounted he watched the power build up again in the main gun of the enemy ship.
“All hands, brace for another shot,” George yelled out, even as the enemy ship broke apart, it fired. George could only hope this shot was not as powerful as the last one.
Alarms went off again and George felt himself struck by something as a support failed in the ceiling. He took a second to gather himself once more, seeing the destruction in front of him. The bridge had been damaged, most consoles were out, and several were injured.
“Bring the back-up bridge on-line, tell them to take over command of the ship,” George heard the captain say. He reached up feeling something warm, watching as his hand came away from his forehead with blood. A medical staff made her way over to him, and he tied waving her away.
“Sir, let me quickly put something on your cut, and don’t try to wave me away, everyone who needs help is receiving it. I care for minor injuries like this,” she told him, taking out a bandage.
He allowed her to work, looking around at the ship, surprised at how well it was working. His own console was damaged, so he had to wait for updates from others.
“Sir, enemy ship has been destroyed, we should be clear of any blast wave,” the scanner officer said, even as a few moved out to the back-up bridge.
“What’s the situation of the Seydlitz?” George asked, wanting to know if his flagship was s till operational, and then get to second bridge and take back over the battle.
“Shields down to fifteen percent, weapons down to fifty percent, and engines down to sixty, life support fully operational. We can maneuver and our scanners still work.
“Good, anyone who can, get to the secondary bridge when you can,” George said, as his cut was bandaged and she moved on to the next person. He released the chair straps and moved off the bridge to the secondary one, seeing signs of damage in the hallway but everything still seemed to function.
The secondary bridge was smaller, but everything worked, and people were moving around quickly at their positions.
“Status of the enemy fleet?” he asked.
“With the destruction of the large ship they have begun to retreat,” he was told.
“The Boston and Calgary are asking for our status.”
“Report we’re operational, shields down a bit,” George said, sitting down and brining up his screen and the scanners. “Situation on the planet’s surface?”
“Landing craft descended, reports of fierce fighting.”
“Tell the marines to go, fighters escort them,” George said. He wondered about the situation, the enemy fleet was in retreat, yet their forces on the ground continued to fight. What was the reason there? Did they have something else planned? He ordered the fleet to set up a perimeter as the enemy retreated. He did not want to be caught off guard by anything.
“Captain, repair teams are working quickly, the only reason we’re operating at all is thanks to all the redundant systems,” the repair chief said.
“Do the best you can.”
George looked down leaving the ship to the captain. He watched the shuttles leave the fleet and head towards the planet’s surface.
*****
The planet’s surface was mass chaos at best. The enemy ground forces continued to kill everyone they came across, uncaring of age or gender or species. Many locals were trying to run away as fast as they could, or hope they found a good hiding spot. Several running away from an invading group stopped as another landing craft came down. Trapped between two forces fear overcame them.
“Out! Out! Out!” the sergeant yelled to his troops, as they moved out of the shuttle quickly. The sight greeting them made him pause.
The large crowd in front of them, civilians, and the panicked looked they had. He had to take control before they started fighting with his group, and that was something he did not want. He noticed a few of them looking behind them, realizing the enemy was behind them.
“Lieutenant, get these people behind us now, the rest fan out, the enemy is behind them, be ready and alert, avoid civilians,” he said to the group.
The men spread out as a couple of soldiers along with the lieutenant finally managed to herd a few people behind them. The group realizing the situation quickly ran past. The marines kept their weapons ready, looking for anyone armed or not Dedian.
The sergeant saw a figure, dressed in camouflage, and armed very similar to them. The pattern was different than theirs, and he knew this was the enemy. Even without seeing the figure firing randomly into the crowd. One civilian went down, and he watched the enemy walk up to the person. The sergeant fired first, striking the enemy soldier. It appeared stunned by what happened, and looked over towards him. He saw fear in his eyes, which seemed strange.
The chatter of fire erupted all over, as the others joined in. He spotted a few others, and fired in their direction as well. It took a few moments for the enemy force to realize who they were fighting. The human forces quickly engaged the enemy on the planet’s surface. Word spread throughout the planet on who would help, and who would not.
On the Seydlitz Admiral Dinen listened to the reports coming in from the surface. He felt relieved they arrived in time. He had no idea how long the ground combat would go, but the fighting in space had finished. He contacted Admiral Cave, and informed him of the situation and that it appeared they had stopped the enemy this time. They had no idea who they were still, and hoped intelligence might give them some information about them.
George was ordered to report back if the enemy returned or if the fighting stopped.
End part 31
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