:: Unknown ::
The luxury cruiser Uuhal moved slowly
towards the docking bay of The Elite Guards Flagship, EGS
Harbinger. Its retrorockets cast a warm blue glow over
the hull of the massive command vessel. With a firm
reassuring “thump" the two spacecraft
connected. Immediately fuel hoses snaked their way
towards Uuhal, the silver steel of the jointed tentacles
glinting in the glow of a nearby sun. A docking collar
and crew passageway began its extension towards the main
hatch of Uuhal. With a violent hiss of pressurization the
collar latched onto the hatch, it's metal securing claws
clanking into place. Beads of condensation almost
immediately formed on the inside of the viewing windows
as warm breathable air filled the passageway and met the
icy cold of the plexiplas windows. At the inner hatches
of both Uuhal and Harbinger green lights simultaneously
winked on to signal stable pressurization in the
passageway.
A tall, tribally tattooed Kushan command officer of The
Elite Guards stood in front of the main hatch onboard the
Uuhal. His hard, orange eyes squinted in anticipation of
the rush of pressurized air signaled by the loud,
rhythmic howling of the warning alarm. The twin circular
locks of the hatch turned in synchronized motion and the
pent up air of the docking airlock erupted into the
Uuhal. The officer's sharply pressed Alpha dress uniform
rustled in the oncoming air.
Steely eyes now wide open, Guardianus Poderosus Miiabe
Inceru of The Elite Guards, stepped confidently into the
docking passageway. At the end of the short passage he
quickly entered the command security code he'd received
from the Harbinger only minutes before. Security was
never lax in The Elite Guards. When prompted he had to
bend down for the retinal scan.
"These damn things were never designed for Kushans
as tall as I," he mused a bit sardonically.
When the computer burbled pleasantly that he was indeed
verified as Miiabe Inceru, the hatch of the Harbinger
opened with another rush of air and another loud warning
alarm. Standing at attention to greet him were Guardianus
Matrias Apocalypse and Guardianus Navos Spawn. Returning
their smart salute, Miiabe asked:
"Permission to come aboard?"
"Permission granted," answered
Spawn.
"And welcome aboard, sir," added Apocalypse.
"Thank you, gentlemen. It's good to be home."
With both junior officers following behind him and
slightly to the right, Miiabe strode quickly towards the
bridge. He knew that CO Dread Lord would want to see him
immediately. After a number of security checkpoints, with
their back aching retinal scans, Miiabe arrived at the
bridge hatch. Pausing briefly to make sure his uniform
was still spotless, Miiabe followed through with the last
security check. Miiabe stepped confidently onto the
bridge of the most powerful vessel in The Elite Guards
fleet.
"Officer on deck!" shouted the ensign on watch.
"Miiabe!" called Dread Lord across the immense
bridge as he got up from the command seat.
Even though Miiabe was a full head taller than Dread
Lord, Miiabe was always struck by the sheer power and
command presence generated by his commanding officer. It
was one of the reasons Miiabe would be eternally loyal to
Dread Lord. Plus the fact that Miiabe knew he wouldn't
want to be on the receiving end of any animosity of Dread
Lord's. Although Miiabe could defeat Dread Lord five of
our ten times in hand to hand combat training, the
commanding officer's tactical knowledge and space combat
techniques were unbeatable.
"Commander!" answered Miiabe as he moved to
meet Dread Lord.
He stopped a full five paces from Dread Lord and snapped
a salute that was quickly returned by the CO. After the
formalities were out of the way, the two hugged firmly in
a way that was only possible by soldiers who had faced
death together.
"Glad to have you back aboard, my friend," said
Dread Lord, "Things have been very hectic around
here."
"I know. I've been following the communications
channels," replied Miiabe, his brow furrowed with
concern.
"We have much to go over in a staff meeting at 1800
with D. Stroyer and Death Fang," said Dread Lord.
"Where are they now?"
"D. Stroyer is leading a search and destroy mission
on a Taiidan resource center we located hiding rather
close by, and Death Fang is scouting our right flank for
possible Taiidan incursions," answered Dread Lord.
"Excellent," added Miiabe, the thought of
Taiidan resource collectors and command centers exploding
into millions of pieces at the business end of D.
Stroyer's ion cannons brought a smile to his face.
"Things are fairly quiet right now, Miiabe, so go
get settled back into your quarters and join me here in
one hour. You can regale me with the sordid tales of your
R&R then," instructed Dread Lord with a smirk.
"Aye, aye, sir," replied Miiabe, executing a
salute.
Miiabe did an about face and walked to the ensign on
watch.
"Have my gear brought from the cruiser to my
quarters, ensign."
"Yes, sir!" the ensign replied with a salute
and left to execute his orders.
Miiabe went down the passageway towards the lift that
would take him one deck down to his living quarters. His
mind raced with anticipation of hearing D. Stroyer talk
of his kills that day. Miiabe was already planning the
strategies of the inevitable search and destroy mission
of his own that would be coming soon. Another smile
crossed his face.
The door slid silently open on it's
air-cushioned hydraulics and Miiabe Inceru stepped inside
the briefing room at precisely 1800 hours.
"Officer on deck!" announced the
ensign by the door, snapping a salute.
Miiabe quickly returned the salute as his
eyes scanned the room. There was Dread Lord at his
customary position at the head of the table with D.
Stroyer to his right. The fresh bandage on
D.Stroyer’s head was no surprise to Miiabe. D. was
never an "arm chair" commander and was always
right in the thick of the battle. Miiabe made a mental
note to buy D. Stroyer a drink later on and get the full
story.
Next to D. Stroyer was Death Fang. Death
was still wearing his flight suit and must have come
straight from the hanger bay.
"I guess that scouting mission turned
into something more," mused Miiabe.
On down around the table were Vandyne,
Hells~Elf, Spawn and Nemesis bringing up the end of the
right side.
Next to Miiabe's empty chair at Dread
Lord's left were SinJin, Shadow, Apocolyps, Kuji Kiri and
last, but most certainly not least, Cathedalu. Cathedalu
had recently been awarded The Elite Guards Medal of
Ruthlessness for a brutal and tactically amazing attack
on a Taiidani fleet. The strategists were still trying to
figure out how he managed to defeat the Taiidan when he
was out numbered three to one. Miiabe knew why and it had
nothing to do with strategy. Cathedalu's hatred of
Taiidan ran deeper and harder than perhaps many realized.
He gave no mercy and no risk was too great to defeat that
vile race.
"Miiabe! Glad to see you're
here," said Dread Lord, bringing the room to order.
"Take your seat."
"Yes sir."
As Miiabe sat down the non-essential
personnel in the room slipped out through the side doors
and the room was automatically locked down. The faint
whir of anti-listening devices kicked in behind the
ventilation system's hum.
"Well, gentlemen, let me start off
this briefing by officially welcoming back Miiabe Inceru.
May he long fight beside us!" announced Dread Lord.
"Here, here!" chorused the rest
of command staff.
"Thank you all," replied Miiabe,
"although I must say it appears the EG have not been
'lax in my absence."
"Are we ever?" quipped Kuji
Kiri, drawing a smile from all.
"You are quite right, Kuji,"
added Dread Lord. "Now, down to the affairs of the
EG."
Dread Lord paused a moment before settling
his steely gaze upon Death Fang and his grimy flight
uniform.
"Well, Death Fang, since you didn't
have time to change out of your flight gear perhaps you
will let the rest of the EG know why."
"Of course," replied Death.
"Gentlemen, as you know, I was scouting our right
flank on a routine patrol. Turns out, it wasn't so
routine."
Death Fang touched the tablescreen in
front of him and a 3D holographic image appeared floating
above the middle of the table.
"This is what broke the
routine."
The image was somewhat hazy and broken up
but it was clearly a Taiidan fighter class vehicle
although it wasn't one Miiabe or anyone else had seen
before.
"We discovered five of these fighters
trying to sneak in past our patrol. They appear to be a
Taiidan Scout fuselage that has been greatly modified.
The underbelly is bigger and the stabilizing fins have
been cut down quite a bit. As you can see the twin
cannons up front have been removed and a very small
pulsed ion cannon has been put to the left of the
cockpit."
"Death," interrupted Spawn,
"how do you know it's an ion cannon? It could simply
be the standard, although reduced in size, pulse
cannon?"
"Initially that's what I thought but
one of my best Scout pilots found out the hard way that
it's ion. That damn Taiidan cut through my man's cockpit
in less than two seconds with that weapon."
Muttered curses were heard around the
table.
"However there are some drawbacks to
this vehicle from what we saw during the brief skirmish.
They apparently cannot sustain ion bursts of more than
one or two seconds as this holo shows."
Another 3D image appeared above the table.
This one was taken on a very close fly by. The camera had
captured the bright blue ion explosion almost at its
start. It appeared the ion weapon had suffered a massive
meltdown and exploded. Miiabe was sure he could see the
flesh of the Taiidani pilot starting to crisp in the
still-framed explosion.
"Also, these ships turn like a Surlak
mud beast in a fresh summer mud hole. Extremely slow and
cumbersome. Not only is their mobility very poor, their
acceleration is almost as bad. When we stumbled across
them they were hiding in an asteroid belt. Two of my
interceptors flushed them out and it took them almost 15
seconds to reach 700 m/s. We need to issue a fleet wide
communiqué to watch for these fighters and, if engaged,
our pilots will do fine as long as they stay behind that
ion weapon."
Dread Lord turned to Apocolyps, "As
soon as we're finished here I want you to send that
message."
"Yes, sir," answered Apocolyps.
"Gentlemen, your thoughts on this new
Taiidan fighter," ordered Dread Lord.
"It's obviously not a frontal assault
vehicle," said Miiabe.
"Aye, I agree," Shadow said,
"much to vulnerable for that. I suspect they may be
designed to destroy lightly escorted Resource units. You
did find them hiding in a Resource belt, correct?"
"Yes, we did," answered Death
Fang.
"Death Fang, did they appear to have
any hyperspace capabilities?" asked Nemesis.
"Not from what we saw. After
destroying my Scout they turned and fled but were easily
hunted down by three of my light corvettes. I should add
that their armor is strong as it took several minutes for
my corvettes to destroy them. Once again, due to their
poor maneuverability, they were easily dispatched from
behind."
"Until we've completely analyzed this
new threat to our fleet I want all Resource Units
accompanied by light assault squads of four light
corvettes, ten interceptors and two cloaks," ordered
Dread Lord.
"Sir," SinJin spoke up,
"that will severely tax our frontal assault
capabilities to divert that many attack craft."
"Noted, SinJin, but if our Resource
units are being destroyed by these damn Taiidan's, we
won't have any resources left to maintain even our
defensive forces."
"Yes, sir," replied SinJin.
"Send the order now," commanded
Dread Lord.
"Done, sir," said Cathedalu as
he went over to the secure comm console and issued the
fleet wide directive.
"Good. I want all of you to review
the holo-battle disk of Death Fang's skirmish and bring
any thoughts on it to me," ordered Dread Lord.
All the officers around the table nodded
in agreement.
"Now onto other matters. It seems the
day for unexpected surprises. D. Stroyer, would you
elaborate on that?"
"Yes, sir. I…."
An ear piercing proximity breach alert cut
off D. Stroyer. Dread Lord's command view screen
immediately jumped to life and the Officer of the Bridge
was there.
"Sir! Our point forces have just
encountered a hyperspace incursion by a large Taiidan
attack fleet. Point is engaging them as we speak."
"How far to our front are they?"
asked Dread Lord
"4000 meters and closing, sir!"
"Damn!" Dread Lord slammed his
fist onto the table. "Engage all defensive forces
and send two heavy assault squadrons to meet these
bastards head on!"
He cut off the bridge view screen and
quickly stood.
"I want all of you on your command
ships immediately. D. Stroyer take your Battle Group out
to 3000 meters and take up a reserve position. If the
heavy assault squadrons need help it's your discretion
when to jump in the fray."
"Yes sir!" D. Stroyer, and his
Battle Group officers, immediately turned and stepped
into fastpods in the wall behind the table. The fastpod
was a one-man transport vehicle that would get each
officer to the docking collar of their own ship in less
than ten seconds.
"Death Fang, take your Battle Group
and flank them on the port side. Miiabe, flank on the
starboard with your Battle Group. I expect the two of you
to meet in the middle and have a drink over those
bastard's floating corpses!"
Both men, and their BG officers,
immediately turned to their own fastpods and were gone.
Dread Lord quickly left the briefing room,
went down the short hallway and emerged onto the bridge
EGS Harbinger. For a brief half second he savored the
sights, sounds and smells of a bridge turning to combat.
Gods, how he loved it!
As the bright thruster tails of D.
Stroyer's Battle Group filled the space in front of the
Harbinger on their way to meet the enemy, Dread Lord
stood in front of his command chair.
"Bring all weapons on line! Helmsman,
take us up 2500 meters towards the enemy. Issue all hands
red alert!"
Part III
The EGS Kurosawa, Miiabe Inceru’s command ship, rocked to
port as four bright red ion blasts exploded the light corvette
EGS Delphi in a showering plume of orange and yellow.
“Gods damn those Taiidani! How the hell
did they get so many heavy ships past our perimeter?”
shouted Miiabe.
“Unknown, sir, but they’re coming in
fast!” replied his tactical officer, Apocolyps. “Another
Heavy Cruiser just jumped in 800 meters starboard.”
Miiabe quickly scanned the tactical screen on
the enveloping arm of his command chair.
“Tell Death Fang’s group to handle
the fighters, we’re going after the big boys!” he
ordered the communications officer.
“Yes sir,” replied the lieutenant.
“Order all our forces to concentrate their
fire on the heavy class ships! I want them gone before they get
any closer to the Mothership! Tell the Multi-Guns to engage the
fighters and provide minimal cover!” shouted Miiabe over the
combat noise.
“Order away, sir!”
Miiabe took quick pleasure in the immediate
reaction he saw on the tactical, and visual, screens. His nine
remaining destroyers (had they actually lost five already?), four
heavy cruisers and fifteen heavy corvettes almost simultaneously
broke their current engagements and began targeting the Taiidan’s
heavy weapons platforms.
“Have the cruisers target all fire on that
new Taiidan HC. Four against one oughta be even odds!”
Seconds after the order was given the EGS
Priori, Riobli, Sumak, and Kunark Heavy Cruisers were moving
towards their target, an ungainly looking red and green Taiidani
HC. In a move that Miiabe loved to watch they fought their way to
positions above, below, in front of and behind the enemy ship.
With their corvettes and fighters providing cover for them, the
HC’s immediately started pounding away at the Taiidan’s
armor with their powerful ion cannons. In this position the
Taiidan ship could only engage one Kushan HC at a time with it’s
main guns. Although the front ship took the worst beating, it’s
crew had to trust that the other three would finish off the enemy
before they were destroyed.
In a brilliantly dazzling display of
pyrotechnics and ion shrapnel, the Elite Guard ships poured ion
beam after ion beam into the Taiidani cruiser's hull. Huge chunks
of armor began to shatter from it’s skin and hurtle out into
the fray. Every so often one of these flaming, white-hot pieces
of metal would slam into an unsuspecting fighter screaming by at
top speed and obliterate it in a fiery collision.
A sharp explosion buffeted the Kurosawa,
bringing Miiabe out of his reverie.
“Sir, those two destroyers that just took
out the Delphi have chosen us as their next prize!” said
SinJin, Miiabe’s First Officer.
“Right. Let’s show them how we do
things on the Kushan side of the universe! Have Shadow bring his
group up here and engage the Taii’ fighters covering these
destroyers. Notify me the second he’s started the
engagement!”
“Yes, sir!” answered Apocolyps as he
began the transmission to Shadow, who was aboard his Missile
Destroyer, EGS Darkmoon.
Within seconds the forward wave of interceptors
and cloaked fighters of Shadow’s force were streaking into
view, pouncing upon anything smaller than a heavy corvette. Right
behind them were the light and medium corvettes, their twin
thruster tails blazing at full power. Even before Darkmoon came
into visual range, Miiabe knew it was not far behind. Green
streaks of explosive light were raining down on the combat arena
banking and dodging after their targets. Brilliantly
incandescence explosions began filling the area as missile after
missile found its target.
At almost the same time the entire combat area
went luminescent with a blinding bluish- white light. Explosive
shockwaves sent fighters, on both sides, careening out of
control. Some of them slammed into the larger ships, exploding
instantly. The larger ships rocked, sending ion salvos wildly off
target.
“Excellent!” cried Miiabe. “Target
all ions on the lead destroyer now!”
Being a heavier ship, the Kurosawa was less
affected by the violent shockwaves and her weapons tracking
devices could easily handle the target correction. Four immensely
powerful blasts of brilliant ember red shot out from the
quadruple forward cannons of the Kurosawa. They blew apart
several Taiidan fighters unfortunate enough to be in their path
and struck the enemy destroyer amidships. Finding the destroyer
to be a weak target, the ion beams burst through the ship and
mushroomed out the other side. The destroyer burst apart in a
shower of sparks and flame, it’s two halves spinning wildly
out of control. An unexpected bonus came when the aft section,
exhaling flame and smoke, smashed into the forward section of its
sister destroyer, seriously crippling her. The ion generators of
the second destroyer exploded with the impact and left her a
crippled, easy target for the Elite Guard salvage crews.
The crew of the Kurosawa had only a short time
to celebrate.
“Sir, another Taiidan HC is bearing down
on…..” the lieutenant never finished his sentence as a
mind jarring explosion rocked the Kurosawa.
The bridge crew were thrown about their
stationary combat seats, the securing arms of the chairs holding
them in place. If they survived they would suffer for weeks
afterward with immense bruises on their thighs. Smoke and sparks
filled the bridge as several consoles shorted and a fire broke
out on the forward tactical display. Immediately several firebots
rushed from hidden orifices under the consoles and started
showering the blaze with smother-foam.
“Damage report!” shouted Miiabe over
the alarms.
“We were hit aft by a large ion burst,
sir!” reported SinJin. “Main thrusters are out, only
secondaries are left. Sixteen engineering decks are either
destroyed or burning. That new aft armor isn’t as strong as
the researchers claimed it to be!”
“What about the aft defensive cannons? Are
they operational?”
“Yes sir but...”
“Shut down all fuel pumps and seal off all
rear decks. Fire the cannons directly behind us in the area of
the explosion! Now!”
The split second Apocolyps got the green light
that all fuel pumps were off and the rear quarter of the ship was
sealed, he fired the aft cannons towards the space behind the
damaged section of the heavy cruiser.
As the yellow, heavy-metal pulse beams lanced
through open space they ignited the massive cloud of thruster
fuel, which had gathered like a dewdrop behind them. Due to their
forward momentum when the Kurosawa was hit the fuel had trailed
behind them, a deadly cloud waiting to be ignited. Only too late
did the Taiidan heavy cruiser, which had dealt the crippling
blow, see what was in store for it. Much too heavy to avoid
stopping or turning in time, the Taiidan HC flew straight into
the ignited inferno erupting in front of it. With immensely high
temperatures the massive burning cloud, fueled on by flammable
debris from the battle, engulfed the forward sections of the
cruiser. Thick armor plating of the forward section seemed to
hold but was blackening and starting to crack. The bridge,
however, was not so lucky. While thick and able to withstand
direct pulse cannon fire, the plasarmor of the bridge view window
was no match for the searing heat. It melted to a point where the
force of the high heat shattered it in a massive implosion. The
fire gulped hungrily at the fresh supply of oxygen and roiled
into the bridge. The crew were roasted instantly, their bodies
crisping and turning to charcoal before they even realized what
had happened. Feeding on the seemingly endless supply of oxygen
the fire began to race its way through the ship igniting
everything in it’s path.
Aboard the Kurosawa, Miiabe knew he had seconds
to react and deal the final blow to the Taiidani bastard who had
crippled his ship. Since the fuel pumps had been shut off, the
trail of fuel ended some 100 meters aft of his vessel. Due to
forward drift Miiabe knew they would still catch some of the
explosion but he was betting the remaining external fire control
systems would be able to handle it. He was also counting on the
force of the fuel explosion to give him what he needed: a push in
the right direction.
With her incredible weight, over eight hundred
thousand tons, the Kurosawa would not be rolled over in the
ensuing explosion but, as Miiabe hoped, would be spun around…directly
into firing position on the enemy cruiser.
As Miiabe barked commands to his crew the
shipped was hammered hard by the tremendous explosion of fuel. An
ensign, dazed by the earlier explosion, had ignorantly gotten up
from the secure envelopment of his combat chair. When the
shockwave hit, he was thrown like a ragdoll against the bulkhead
across the bridge. His head exploded like a melon dropped from a
building and he fell lifeless to the deck.
When Miiabe judged the Kurosawa to be about a
quarter of the way through the relatively fast spin created by
the concussion, he acted.
“FIRE!!” Miiabe shouted above the
thunderous explosion. His voice barely a whisper in all the noise
but enough to be heard by SinJin who fired all four ion cannons
simultaneously.
The brilliant streams of deadly energy cut a
destructive swath through space, annihilating everything in their
path. After eliminating a few stray fighters who wandered where
they shouldn’t have, the scarlet beams found their true
mark. They struck the flaming section of the Taiidan cruiser just
to the rear of the bridge. With the hull already weakened by the
intense blaze and beginning to collapse, the armor plating was no
match for the raw ion power. The beams punched through the hull
like hot lead through glass. They ignited the remaining
ammunition stores of the forward rail guns in a dazzling display
of fireworks. A series of concussive blasts rocked through the
enemy vessel. Gases and flames licked out in cracks where the
armor had weakened. She was coming apart at the seams and not
liking it very much. The screams of metal tearing metal and
Taiidanis dying mingled together in one great cacophony of death.
With a final, terrible groan her hull gave and the Taiidani heavy
cruiser burst apart in a blinding explosion of heat, molten metal
and fury.
Listing almost sixty-five degrees to starboard
she lay gasping smoke and flame aft. The EGS Kurosawa’s
broken hull stretched out twisted steel fingers to the icy cold
of space but she was alive.
The medical report of the Kurosawa’s Chief
Medical Officer would later report the seventy-nine broken limbs
of crewmen who had been thrown against bulkheads during the
massive shockwaves. The report would also list the death of
forty-four crewmen, fifteen whom had been sucked into space when
their engineering decks had been opened to space in the crippling
ion blast.
Hanging awkwardly in their combat chairs the
bridge crew began the process of damage assessment. Miiabe’s
first thoughts were to the fact that the Kurosawa was a big, fat,
and helpless target to any remaining Taiidan ships in the area.
An immediate glance at what remained of his tactical display,
many systems had shorted out, showed that he needn’t worry
of that. Over forty EG ships had enveloped his wounded vessel in
a protective Sphere formation and were easily defending her
against the Taiidan vultures trying to pick at her damaged steel
flesh. He could also see that Death Fang had followed Dread Lord’s
orders to the letter and was coming up fast to meet him, Miiabe
Inceru, in the middle.
Knowing that he was safe from destruction he
turned his mind to damage control.
“ArtGrav off!” he ordered, knowing
his crew could work better in zero gravity than hanging onto
chairs in this awful list.
Within a few seconds he felt his stomach knot
up tightly as gravity’s fingers slipped from his body and
the gentle caress of zero gee encompassed him. Free from the
bonds of falling he released the stiffly padded arms of his
combat chair and floated.
“I want damage assessments from all
sections in two minutes!” he shouted.
“And someone turn off that damn alarm!”
he added with a grimace.
Even with the alarm off he found himself giving
orders loudly, his ears still ringing and partially deaf from the
incredible explosions.
He looked over at the now weightless body of
the foolish ensign who had been smashed against the bulkhead. The
blood and fluids, which had been splattered against the bulkhead,
were now floating in round clumps about the bridge. Autonomous
drones, who’s only job was to prevent liquids of any kind
from spreading around the bridge and shorting out consoles
(especially in zero gee) were busy vacuuming up. It was a rather
disturbing site to watch. Especially the drone hovering near the
ensign’s shattered skull catching what was still leaking.
“Get some goddamn medics up here to remove
that body!” he barked.
“Damage reports coming in, sir,”
reported Apocolyps.
“Give them to me,” commanded Miiabe.
“Engineering reports twenty seven men
lost, nine engineering decks gone or critically damaged. Only
nominal ship power is available and CPO Subal suggests shutting
down all non-essential systems to preserve life support until we
can dock for repair.”
“Can we correct the listing before we shut
down?” asked Miiabe.
“No, sir, I suggest we don’t,”
came the voice of Chief Petty Officer Subal, Miiabe’s
Engineering Chief who’d been listening on the open channel,
“we’ve barely enough power as it is to run life support
for another seven hours.”
“Damn. All right then, shut down to only
essential core power.”
The main lighting of the bridge dimmed and the
red glow of the emergency lights came on. All bridge systems but
weapons, comm and tactical shut down. An eerie silence engulfed
the bridge.
“Medical report,” ordered Miiabe
next.
Chief Medical Officer Bondar’s voice came
over the bridge comm speakers,
“Sir, we have many broken bones,
contusions, bruises and cuts. So far I have thirty reported dead
and I fear that will rise. We are down to about thirty-seven
percent crew capacity.”
“Do what needs to be done and get as many
of the crew back to their stations a.s.a.p.”
“Yes sir,” answered CMO Bondar and
cut the transmission.
“Weapons reports all six rail guns are
down due to severed power lines aft. We have most of our
defensive guns available but they won’t do much good in a
serious fight,” said Apocolyps.
“Tell me something I don’t know,
Lieutenant Commander,” Miiabe said gruffly.
“Yes sir. If necessary we can fire one ion
cannon but that last burst melted the ion fuel pathways of the
three other cannons. We’re pretty much a rock in space with
some pellet guns to defend herself,” concluded Lt. Commander
Apocolyps.
“We certainly are,” agreed Miiabe,
“we certainly are.”
“Incoming transmission from EGS Darkmoon,
sir,” informed the comm officer.
“Put it through, lieutenant.”
Shadow’s deep voice boomed through the
speakers.
“Glad to see you’re still with us,
sir!”
“Thanks, Shadow. So are we. How’s the
situation look from your point of view?” Miiabe was
referring to the battle as well as his own ship.
“We have the attack contained, sir. Death
Fang is mopping up the remaining enemy forces and we are keeping
a defensive perimeter around you. We’re catching a stray
fighter or light corvette every now and then but nothing too big.
The Kurosawa’s seen much better days, sir, much better days.
That was a damn fine maneuver you pulled, if I may say so, sir”
“Thank you, Shadow. We do what we have to
to defend the Mothership.” Miiabe signaled the end of the
transmission to Shadow. “Send our sitrep to Dread Lord
aboard the Harbinger and notify me immediately of his reply.”
“Yes sir,” answered SinJin as he
moved to carry out the order.
Miiabe looked around his damaged bridge and
felt a surge of pride at what they had done. It was coupled with
a deep sense of loss for the crewmembers who died today. “Battle
has its price,” he thought.
“Bridge crew, I will be putting all of you
up for commendations. You have behaved above and beyond the call
of duty. The Mothership, I know, would thank you,” he
announced.
The crew, knowing the price they had just paid
for that commendation, took the news honorably.
“Incoming transmission for EGS Harbinger,
sir,” said SinJin.
“Put it through,” answered Miiabe
Inceru, commander of the EGS Kurosawa, with a heavy heart.
