Atlantia Series 3: Aggressor (31 page)

Words spilled from Andaim’s mouth as though of their own accord.

‘Re-task the Raythons to Atlantia’s defence!’

Mikhain nodded and relayed the order, and suddenly Andaim’s brain re-engaged itself.

‘Hold back the second Marine troop in case we need them!’ he shouted. ‘Stream all power to the plasma cannons facing the Veng’en cruiser and hail them on all frequencies!’

Lael nodded as she frowned at her screen.

‘It’s Commander Ty’ek’s former vessel, captain,’ she informed him. ‘The one we were following. I thought that they were on our side now?!’

Andaim could not answer her and he saw the look in Mikhain’s eye.

‘I told the captain that following them was a bad idea,’ the XO snapped. ‘You can’t trust a Veng’en as far as you can throw them.’

‘Scythe fighters deploying from the Veng’en cruiser!’ yelled a tactical officer from across the bridge. ‘She’s moving to engage!’

‘Launch all Raythons in response!’ Andaim fired his order back. ‘But do not fire until fired upon!’

‘Too late!’ Mikhain shouted. ‘All batteries on the cruiser firing now!’

‘Brace for impact!’ Andaim yelled. ‘Return fire and get them on screen!’

Andaim hurled himself into the captain’s chair as the main viewing panel changed from an image of Salim’s compound to one of the huge Veng’en cruiser looming toward them, her starboard hull rippling with bright red flashes as her plasma cannons opened fire as they came to bear.

The Atlantia shuddered as the blows hammered into her shielded hull, each blast louder than the last as they battered their way up Atlantia’s flank toward her bridge. Alarms and claxons rang out as the immense energy of each strike overwhelmed the shield generators and caused short-outs and electrical fires to spring up across the ship.

‘Fires on decks three through five!’ Lael called out. ‘Sheilds holding but power is down by twelve percent!’

‘Return fire, all batteries!’ Andaim yelled.

A deeper ripple of thumps reverberated through Atlantia’s hull as her massive cannons responded and blasted a salvo of huge blue-white plasma charges across the bitter vacuum of space between the two vessels. Andaim saw the blasts smash into the Veng’en cruiser’s hull in flashes of light that flickered and flared like lightning.

‘Direct hits!’ Mikhain called out. ‘The jamming is preventing us from assessing the damage to their hull!’

‘Renegade Flight fully engaged!’ Lael added. ‘They’re outnumbered two to one!’

‘Get the Reapers out there!’ Andaim shouted as he realised that a thin veil of blue smoke was drifting through the bridge as circuitry was being overloaded. ‘All power to starboard shields, bring us about!’

The helmsman obeyed instantly, Atlantia turning slowly but far faster than the much larger Veng’en cruiser could manage. Andaim saw that the viewing screen was now showing a shower of plasma shots zipping between the tiny Raythons and Scythes fighting for their lives between the two massive warships.

‘Reaper Flight launching!’ Mikhain informed Andaim. ‘Four Raythons on orders to hold back and defend Atlantia.’

‘Good,’ Andaim replied. ‘Helm, full power, bring us right in front of her. I want all our weapons to bear upon her bridge and as few of hers able to respond.’

‘That could expose our people on the surface to bombardment,’ Mikhain warned. ‘If we can see Arcadia, then so can they!’

‘Then we had best be quick about it!’ Andaim snapped back. ‘If we don’t win this battle real fast then there won’t be anybody left to stop a Veng’en bombardment!’

Andaim turned to Lael. ‘Have they responded to our hail?’

‘Negative, captain!’ Lael replied. ‘No transmissions at all since they arrived!’

Andaim looked at the cruiser and saw it trying to turn to bring its weapons to bear on the faster-moving frigate.

‘Why the hell are they attacking us?’ he asked out loud. ‘We made our peace with Ty’ek’s crew before they left us.’

Before anybody could reply, Mikhain’s voice rang out

‘They’re launching more craft! I’ve got four Veng’en
Raider
assault vehicles, all aiming for the surface!’

Andaim spotted the new contacts splitting away from the cruiser and turning for the planet below them.

‘What the hell are they doing? Interceptors, engage and destroy!’

‘We can’t spare the Raythons, they’re fully engaged!’ Mikhain replied. ‘If they turn away from battle they’ll be pursued and shot down, you know this!’

‘Send the Atlantia guard fighters instead!’

‘We’ll have no close-support!’ Mikhain argued.

‘I know damn well we won’t!’ Andaim yelled back. ‘Send them in, now!’

The XO relayed the order and the four Raythons immediately broke away from Atlantia and raced to intercept the four Veng’en assault craft.

‘How long until our weapons come to bear?’ Andaim asked.

Mikhain scanned his display panel. ‘Thirty seconds, maximum.’

‘Can we break through their jamming and take control of the Arcadia?’ Andaim asked Lael.

‘The signals from Arcadia are too weak and the Veng’en jamming too strong,’ Lael replied. ‘They’re on their own down there.’

Andaim looked at a secondary display on the bridge, several of Atlantia’s optical sensors still trained on Arcadia and bearing witness to the battle raging below on the surface.

‘Reaper Three, splash one!’

The call came out over the communications link, and Andaim saw one of the Veng’en Raiders explode as two Raythons hammered it with plasma shots.

‘There are too many,’ Mikhain said. ‘They’re getting through!’

Andaim saw two of the Raiders flare bright orange and red as they plunged into Chiron IV’s atmosphere, little finesse required for their tactical descent and the less heavily-shielded Raythons unable to follow them at such velocity.

Andaim turned and looked at the Veng’en cruiser, his eye judging the rate at which the two massive ships were closing on each other.

‘Hit them with everything we’ve got!’ Andaim shouted. ‘Ignore the Scythe fighters and disable the cruiser’s bridge and sensor array! We’ve got to stop that jamming!’

‘Aye captain!’ Mikhain replied.

‘XO, you have the bridge!’ Andaim snapped.

Several heads looked up at the CAG in surprise.

‘The captain’s orders were that you held the command,’ Lael reminded him.

‘That was before the Veng’en ambush!’ Andaim snapped back. ‘We need every single Raython out there, right now, or this is all over!’

Andaim turned to Mikhain, the Executive Officer standing resolute but with shadows of uncertainty, or perhaps conflicting courses of action, passing behind his eyes.

‘Captain’s orders were explicit. No bombardment unless no other option remained, understood?’

Mikhain stared at Andaim for a long moment before he replied. ‘Aye, understood.’

‘You have command!’ Andaim called as he turned and dashed off the Atlantia’s bridge.

Mikhain watched him go and then realised that the entire command crew were watching him intently.

‘You heard the captain! Target the cruiser’s sensor arrays!’

***

‘Covering fire!’

General Ibrahim Bra’hiv hunkered down behind an abandoned chunk of welded steel and fired twice upon a pair of pirates advancing upon his position. The first blast smashed the rifle from the hands of one of the pirates in a cloud of sprayed plasma and burning clothes and flesh. The pirate collapsed screaming to his knees as the second man narrowly avoided Bra’hiv’s second shot and fled out of sight.

The Arcadia’s bow was high overhead, a fine drizzle gusting down from low scudding clouds above as Bra’hiv’s Marines tumbled into cover around him, firing as they went. High on the scaffolding Ogrin were marching up and down, cajoling the slaves back to work even as a battle raged beneath them and turbulent storm clouds rumbled overhead. Beams of bright sunshine burst through the turbulent firmament above, illuminating the falling drizzle in bright rainbow bands of light.

‘There are too many!’ Lieutenant C’rairn shouted across the compound as he crouched behind scattered debris amid the rippling grasses. ‘We need to get weapons into the hands of the slaves!’

The pirates had fled as one, taking cover around or near their ships, but as they realised that they outnumbered the assaulting Marines two-to-one so their flight had ceased and they had begun to reform and fight back. A barrage of plasma fire rained down upon the general’s position as he tried to locate Qayin’s Marines.

‘Where the hell is Qayin?’ C’rairn yelled above the din.

Bra’hiv thought about falling back once more on Taron Forge’s freighter, Phoenix, parked nearby, but then he spotted the smuggler and his co-pilot beating a hasty retreat toward it. Both were armed and both were being largely ignored by the other pirates firing on Bra’hiv’s Marines, and that meant their only escape from the planet’s surface was being swiftly cut off.

The general pressed one hand over his ear to shield it from the deafening blasts of plasma fire as he called out on an open channel.

‘Sergeant Qayin, report in!’

A burst of static replied and Bra’hiv looked up and around again, seeking a glimpse of blue and gold.

‘Sergeant Qayin, respond!’

‘We’re pinned down!’ Lieutenant C’rairn shouted.

Bra’hiv looked up and saw the pirates advancing on the Marine’s position beneath the Arcadia’s bow, the weight of their fire too heavy for the Marines to move position. Bra’hiv braced himself. When facing superior firepower from a numerically superior enemy, there was no longer any tactical way to win the fight. All that remained was the psychological battle to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

‘All hands!’ Bra’hiv yelled. ‘Prepare to advance!’

The Marines took up ready positions as they fired, some of them affixing bayonets in preparation for the suicidal charge.

The pirates would be aware that they were outgunning the Marines, and their blood would be up after the unexpected assault. Friends would have been killed, perhaps they would be themselves injured and in pain, keen for revenge. Advancing now on the Marine’s position, there was only one thing to stop them, and that was for the soldiers to do the last thing that the pirates would be expecting from a defeated enemy: an advance and attack.

‘Ready?!’ Bra’hiv shouted.
‘Now!’

The Marines leaped up as one and charged, just as a blaze of plasma fire raced over their heads and ploughed into the advancing pirates. Bra’hiv blinked as he saw them cut down one after another, their advance faltering and stalling as their ranks collapsed into disarray.

Bra’hiv turned and saw Qayin high on the scaffolding behind them, surrounded by not just Marines but dozens of slaves, now armed with plasma rifles that showered down covering fire from their elevated positions.

‘I’ll be damned,’ Bra’hiv smiled as he called out to his men. ‘Take cover! Let’s finish this!’

The Marines broke off their mass charge and repositioned themselves in cover as ahead the pirates fell back en masse. Bra’hiv huddled down and produced two plasma-grenades from his webbing, set the impact fuses and then lobbed them in amongst the fleeing pirates.

A double-blast thumped the air and Bra’hiv saw several pirates tumble and fall, their bodies aflame with super-heated plasma as they screamed and thrashed. Behind them, Bra’hiv saw Marines tumbling from the throne complex and firing as they went, catching the now-beleaguered pirates in a lethal crossfire.

The Marines began advancing toward the pirate’s craft, but Bra’hiv called them back as he recalled their primary mission.

‘Stand to! We need Arcadia!’

The Marines turned, falling back toward their general’s position with Evelyn and others in tow as Bra’hiv looked about him.

‘Where’s the captain?’

As the bulk of Salim’s pirates fled from view and the gunfire suddenly ceased, Idris Sansin emerged from cover and strode toward the general.

‘About time,’ he called.

General Bra’hiv saluted and for once his wide jaw split with a smile. ‘Been waiting for you, captain. Arcadia is ours.’

Idris’s smile faded as he looked at the frigate.

‘Not yet it isn’t,’ he replied.

Salim Phaeon stood upon Arcadia’s boarding ramp with his mirrored blade in one hand and a plasma pistol in the other, several of his pirates arrayed around him beneath the huge frigate as they held the line before him.

The Marines advanced down toward the frigate, General Bra’hiv at their head and Idris Sansin close behind. All around them the slaves were descending down from the scaffolding, armed with pistols, rifles and even welding torches distributed by Qayin and his men, angry glares directed at Salim and his fellow pirates.

Bra’hiv saw Evelyn, her pistol aimed at the pirates and a thin gown barely covering her body, joined by numerous captives as they moved among the Marines. Idris, unarmed, moved to the front of the crowd and pointed at Salim. His voice was loud enough to be heard above the sound of fleeing pirates boarding their craft and taking off in the distance.

‘It’s over,’ he called, his voice echoing off the frigate’s gigantic hull. ‘Stand your men down and hand the Arcadia over or she’ll be blown apart as soon as she reaches orbit.’

‘I’d sooner die here than surrender to you, Sansin!’ Salim shouted.

Bra’hiv spotted several Ogrin among the liberated slaves, no longer controlling them but being led by manacles draped over their necks like leashes. Dim they might have been, but Bra’hiv realised that they knew when then game was up. Deprived of firm leadership, they lost their obedience and became docile and quiet, especially in the face of hundreds of armed slaves.

‘I can arrange that,’ Idris replied. ‘But if you stand down at least you and your men will get out of here alive. Take off, and you’re going up against a fully armed frigate with two entire squadrons of trained pilots and hundreds of Marines. You and I both know how that’s going to end.’

Salim’s podgy features twisted with anger but he forced a smug grin across his face. ‘Better to die trying than to not have tried at all.’

‘You’re sacrificing your own people for nothing,’ Idris insisted. ‘It’s over, all of it. You cam’t defeat Atlantia and you can’t win here because you’re outnumbered and outgunned by five to one. All your plays are up, Salim, yet again. I’m surprised any one of these people is dim enough to follow you to certain death for nothing.’