Battle of Sorvius One
Part 2
"Reanna, you have a fighter coming up behind you!" Flavia Tyrsus warned.
"I see it. Heading for the Epsilon nebula," her sister, Reanna, replied.
Flavia could see the Muero elite fighter closing on her sister's ship. She's not going to make it. The Muero fired, but Reanna maneuvered at just the right instant, and the shot glanced off the hull leaving only superficial damage. A second shot soon followed, and it caused the snub fighter to veer wildly, as Reanna struggled to regain control. The enemy fighter was nearly upon her.
Pushing her own ship to its limits, Flavia struggled to reach her sister. At extreme range, she fired two shots at their foe. Surprisingly, both struck the target squarely, and it exploded in a silent ball of white fire. From out of the wreckage, in a final act of defiance, two shots headed straight for Reanna's fighter.
"No! Reanna, get out of there!" screamed Flavia into her communication link.
Half a second before the Dysori snub fighter exploded from their adversary's dying shots, Flavia saw Reanna's life pod eject from the fighter.
With a sigh of relief, Flavia maneuvered into position and retrieved her sister. Once Reanna was safely aboard, Flavia sent a message to Captain Josidynn Prosidius, informing her that much of the Muero fleet had broken away and were heading unerringly towards the Dysori planetary colonies.
"Have all commanding Rarrkars reported their progress?" inquired Primaag Trogaan of his commanding Rarrkar.
"All except Rarrkar Lotraag. He seems to be having some kind of 'communication problem.' His forces have moved towards Sorvius One. Do we have enough ships to handle the remaining Dysori fleet?"
"Yes, more than enough. We'll finish this fight up, then deal with Sorvius One and Rarrkar Lotraag soon enough."
"Sir, Primaag Suutraal, says that the remaining enemy fleet is pulling away towards Sorvius One. He wishes permission to pursue the enemy fleet," interrupted a communications officer.
"Tell him to pursue and destroy them! And let the Primaag know that I wish to speak with him privately."
"Karynn, the attack fleet didn't destroy nearly enough of the invading fleet, and they've already hit Cruxtacia once," Josidynn Prosidius warned. Her mother, Senator Hermia Prosidius, had commanded Josidynn to protect the fleet base on the moon of Cruxtacia at all costs. As a key staging point in the ongoing war against the Muero, it could not be lost or destroyed. "My scouts report that a major portion of the their fleet have broken off the attack on Cruxtacia and are heading towards the planet."
"We'll be ready. We have at least one more surprise for the Lizards. How is the hidden reserve fleet?" replied her sister Karynn. "Your communication signal is weakening. What's going on there?"
"Someone infiltrated our compound and wrecked both the main power generators and the auxiliary power cell. They also made a mess of several communication satellites. Karynn, I'm sending the ships from the hidden reserve fleet to help you."
"No, we'll handle the attack fleet, save them to strike at the rest of the Muero fleet when it reaches you. Protect Cruxtacia." The communication link died. Karynn did not know if her sister had heard her words, and wondered if she would listen if she did?
"Prefect, our engines are damaged. We can neither outrun nor outgun the pursuing ships." Prefect Lyseria Truvalis looked over her crew. She could see worry in their eyes.
"Head for the nebula! Let's see if they're willing to follow us. And tell the engineers to get those engines working!"
"Sir, several Muero destroyers have broken off and are heading in our direction."
"Charge all weapons and load all torpedoes. Today, hell will have a little less room."
Lyseria ordered her ship, the Antares, to veer back and forth to give her pursuers less chance of actually hitting the ship. The enemy destroyers closed, firing shot after shot while doing so. Several blasts scored direct hits against Antares, but the Dysori ship's shields prevented any serious damage.
"Prefect, engines are fully operational," reported the engineers.
"Get us in that nebula now!" Several anxious moments later, her agile ship flittered into the nebula. She was counting on the nebular gasses and electromagnetic fields to cause sensor and shield problems for any enemy ships that chose to follow her.
The destroyers stopped just outside the nebula, and fired a volley of torpedoes in the Antares general direction. None of them came close to hitting, but the shockwaves from the explosions rocked the Antares to and fro.
"Plot an origin point for those missiles and rig some of spare cargo with missile warheads," ordered Lyseria.
"Mistress, the nebula makes it nearly impossible to find an origin point," said Lyseria's weapon's officer.
"Then take a guess, and send a full spread of cluster missiles in that direction. Maybe we'll get lucky. After we fire, eject the spare cargo and move us perpendicular to our last course at full speed. Hopefully, we can see them fire back, and hopefully, even if we miss, they'll think they didn't."
Lyseria was gambling with the lives of her crew. If she didn't get far enough away, either her own exploding cargo or the Muero's return fire would incinerate the Antares for real.
"I've calculated as best I can the origin of those missiles."
"Are the cluster missiles and cargo ready?"
"Yes."
"Fire missiles and move us out of here!" As the missiles sped away and the cargo fell out the auxiliary cargo lock, Antares moved at a 90 degree angle away from its last course.
Three of the cluster missiles struck home, and one the Muero destroyers was engulfed in hellfire. The other two ships instantly fired lasers and missiles back in the direction of the Antares' last position. Three of the blasts hit with amazing accuracy.
As the Muero blasts hit the rigged cargo, it too blew up. Despite being some eight kilometers away, the Antares rocked with the force of the explosion, causing serious damage to several port side weapons batteries.
The Muero, apparently concluding the Antares was either destroyed or severely damaged, moved away. They didn't notice the remaining "missile" floating nearby.
"Prefect, the sensor probe is functioning normally. The Muero are moving away."
"Damage report. I want to know if we can take two enemy destroyers. They may have been damaged."
Her engineers reported that several areas to the rear of the Antares had sustained heavy damage. "As long as we don't suffer another direct hit on the rear, we should be fine."
The sensor probe followed the Muero destroyers, and the Antares sped out of the nebula straight towards it, firing missiles as she came. The rear destroyer took a direct hit, causing serious damage.
The damaged ship fired its lasers. It no longer had any missiles, a lucky break for the Antares. All of the lasers hit, but Lyseria's shields held. The other Muero fired a single missile, but Antares' countermeasures prevented it from hitting anything.
She once again spun her missile battery into position and finished off the crippled destroyer. The other destroyer had no intentions of going so quietly.
"Prefect, the destroyer is charging up its reserves!"
"Then fire dammit! Hit their power center, and may the goddess guide our shot!" She had her ship concentrate squarely on the engines of the ship. Moments later the ship exploded, but it fired directly at Antares' starboard weapon mounts, destroying them all.
"Sir, an incoming destroyer. It's one we crippled before. Our sensors say it can't fire."
"A Muero ship doesn't need to fire. They'll take us down any way they can."
"It's charging at us at full speed and we can't outmaneuver it."
"Fire our last cluster missile."
The missile hit the ship before it could ram Antares, destroying everything except a large chunk of hull that continued towards Antares and impacted the engines with a horrendous crunching sound. Antares was dead in space, and most of her engineering crew had been killed. Lyseria would have to wait until the battle ended to call for help. An escort ship could finish the Antares in her condition.
"What have the scanners picked up from Cruxtacia?" Rarrkar Lotraag planned a full assault on Sorvius One.
"Just several snub-fighters patrolling the surrounding area of the military base, my lord."
"Send several squads of fighters to guard our flank against an attack from their moon base. Trogaan would not use any of his resources to protect our flank." Several Muero leapt at their leaders command. Looking over the map of Sorvius One, Lotraag could see the grand sweet spot of the campaign against the Dysori Pleasure World, New Arcadius.
It will be defended, but that is no cause to worry. The Muero leader continued with his plan. He would send two waves of fighters and follow up with several Juggernauts, leaving the fighters to protect the bigger, slower ships. The Dysori world will fall and I will bask in the glory of the conquest. I will return a hero with thousands of enslaved Dysori for the arenas and labor mines.
"Sir, Primaag Trogaan is on the communication line. He wishes to speak with you."
"Of course the fool wishes to speak with me, you puny kritchnak!"
Lotraag moved over to his console and turned on his comm-speaker.
"My Primaag, how can I be of service to you during this most worthy cause?" Lotraag's voice positively oozed with contempt.
"Rarrkar, why do you attack the planet without my orders?"
"Primaag, my orders have been to destroy our enemy, and that is what I have done, and continue to do so. If you have some other plan please forgive me, it was not my intention to disobey your orders."
"Sir, the Primaag's ship is closing fast," reported Lotraag's communication officer.
As Trogaan continued to berate Lotraag, Lotraag left the visual on, muting the audio channel, and smiling, turned to his weapons officer, "Load two missiles and manually target the Primaag's ship." The weapons officer whirled around, an incredulous look on his face.
"Sir?"
"If I must repeat myself, I will have your head bolted to the top of one of the missiles!"
Trogaan continued, "I'll arrive shortly. You will come aboard my ship and serve as my Rarrkar"
"As you command, Primaag," Lotraag smoothly replied, restoring the audio link.
Why are you taking this news so calmly? Trogaan ended the link and moved back to the Rarrkar's chair.
Lotraag looked at his monitor as Trogaan's ship moved closer. He was nearly at point blank range. Almost. Trogaan's ship finally came to a stop, several hundred yards away.
"Now! Fire and raise shields!" ordered Lotraag. Once again his weapon officer paused for a brief second, but before he could react, Lotraag had already fired the missiles himself. A split second later, one of his blades had penetrated the chest of his weapons officer.
On his monitor, he could see the missiles strike his commander's ship, and watched it explode into millions of fragments. Lotraag even managed a rare chuckle to himself as Trogaan's life was snuffed out by his actions.
"So Trogaan, my list grows shorter," he whispered to himself. "Inform all of the ships led by the Primaag that I am now taking charge. Command them to prepare to attack the planet's surface."
From her place on the bridge, Karynn Prosidius could see the Muero moving to attack New Arcardius, the largest city on Sorvius One. Fortunately, most of the city's inhabitants had been evacuated to the Dysori homeworld weeks ago. The remaining population had been ordered to shelters as soon as the Muero fleet was spotted coming out of the Firestorm. Karynn ordered all ships launched. With her command, dozens of fighters and gunships roared into the sky and to the outer atmosphere, preparing to meet their foe. As the fleet reached the atmosphere, the planetary cannons came online.
As the two fleets closed, the Dysori veered off to the left and right, leaving a huge hole in the center. The Muero fighters sped into this hole, only to be met with a barrage from planetary cannons that had been linked to the planetary shields in order to allow them to fire unhindered.
Lotraag watched on his monitor and roared with anger. "I will kill Prosidius before the day is done. Send in the next wave."
More fighters sped towards the surface.
Seconds later, a barrage of atmospheric mines detonated, leaving many more Muero ships crippled. But the Muero were now frenzied and in a bloodlust trance. Their former masters had bred the violent legacy, both a boon and a curse, into them. Nothing except revenge on their enemy would quench their thirst. Two more waves of ships crashed into the atmosphere with full intentions of turning the planet into a barren moon. Stiff resistance from the defending Dysori fleet met them. Karynn's fleet was outnumbered, but they held their own, inflicting and taking serious losses. She knew she couldn't hold out, but she planned on making it easier for the rest of their fleet to finish the job on the Muero. She launched her own battleship and escort and joined the fray.
Primaag Suutraal was in his conference chamber with his executive officers when the news arrived. Trogaan was dead and Lotraag had launched a full attack on the planet surface. He must not have taken your plan to make him your Rarrkar very well Trogaan. I'll have to be doubly careful with Lotraag in charge of your ships.
"Sir, your scout in Rarrkar Lotraag's fleet report that they have been met with heavy resistance, what are your orders?"
"We carry out our commands and destroy the Dysori!"
Before he could finish, Suutraal was interrupted, "Primaag, our long range scouts report that a very large fleet of Dysori warships has appeared from out of nowhere near Cruxtacia and are heading in behind Rarrkar Lotraag's attack fleet. They outnumber his fleet two to one?"
At last! He'll be destroyed. "Order our ships to attack the moon of Cruxtacia at once!" Either way, it would be a victory for Suutraal. I will steal this victory from you, Lotraag.