From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (34 page)

              She smiled as she walked, excited to see her son and go back to bed. It had been a
very
long day already.

              Her face soured as she thought about the Kalu, they were already waging ground combat on Kafam and would be on Ershue shortly. If they decided that Parnmal was too much of a hassle and went right on, then ground combat would be coming sooner rather than later for her and her Commandos.

Chapter Ershue

              Bregend looked over the reports from Ershue, they’d been flooding in since he’d entered the system. None of the Kalu were staying around except for the invasion force of seventy thousand Kalu ships, about eight million Kalu. The numbers were as staggering as they were scary.

              Jump fighters were engaging the Kalu, rushing in, hitting them from long range and running away again. They were getting a few here and there, but their own numbers were dwindling.

              “Okay, we’re going to accelerate as hard as we can to get the fighters and bombers up to speed to race through the Kalu formation. I want them to get as many of the bastards as possible. We’ll come in behind them, hitting the Kalu with everything we’ve got. I want us down to only repelling Commandos. The rest should be aboard shuttles that will come in our wake and head straight for Ershue. As we see the Kalu on their final approach towards the planet I want to create wormholes in their path, hopefully that will thin their numbers out. The fleet will regroup, come back to Ershue and do everything we can to stop them ever reaching the ground.

              The fleet will stay in orbit and provide support from the orbitals, our reports from Kafam show them going to the planet’s surface as fast as possible, not one ship tried to stay in orbit as they did at Heija,” Bregend said, looking to his command team and the commanders of his fleet in holographic form.

              “Sounds like a plan,” Kelu said, one of the Syndicate prisoners turned reformed Free Fleet ship commander.

              “Questions, comments, ideas?” Bregend looked around, they had all worked on the plan together, but he wanted to make sure there were no last minute tweaks that might help them out. No one had anything to say.

              “Alright, well let’s get our people ready,” Bregend said rising, the holograms turned off and the room seemed smaller as he headed for the bridge.

                                                                      ***

              Commander Fal looked to the skies, he couldn’t see the Kalu that hid behind the atmosphere of Ershue, but he could damned well sense them. It was hard not to with the dread that hung over the planet like the massive trees that Ershue and the creatures of the planet lived in.

              He looked away from the sky and looked to the mountain plateau that rose out of the trees. A massive asteroid had once hit Ershue, making this rise in the center of its impact.

              Now Commandos from across known space drew their lines in Ershue’s ground, protecting those that hid in the underground bunkers built under the mound that acted as the command center and base for the Free Fleet forces.

              PRC’s sprouted from the mound’s armored walls, automated Gatling guns rose on pillars and were mounted to walls. Fal had taken a lesson from Parnmal, turning the rise into a maze of choke points, funnels and weapon systems made to give the Kalu a
very
bad time.

              More units were spread out around the planet. They were there to harass the Kalu from the rear. Make it so that they were never not under attack.

              Fal wished he had more weapons, had built up his defensive complex more. It was fifteen kilometers wide, but he had watched the videos of Kalu. He didn’t know if that was going to be enough.

                                                                      ***

              Bregend watched as flight after flight of fighter, bomber and shuttle was released from their carriers.

              It wouldn’t be long now.

              All of the Fleet’s ships were presenting their broadsides, momentum carrying them towards the Kalu.

              “All craft are clear of their respective carriers,” Zoka, the Fleet’s Wing Commander said from her place at Bregend’s left.

              “Good,” Bregend replied, the bridge was tense. The jump fighters were popping in and out of the Kalu formation, they were inflicting a lot of casualties, but the Kalu turned and tried to engage them as soon as they emerged.

              It was a risky game of cat and mouse.

              “How we looking Mills?” Bregend asked, glancing to his second on his right.

              “Ready across the board,” Mills reported, looking to Bregend, steel in his eyes.

              “Domal, run the guns and open all tubes. Kyle pass the word to the rest of the Fleet. Afnar, bring the shields up. Qurv can you put up field of fire ranges in front of the fleet?” Bregend asked, rail cannons hydraulics pushing them from their maintenance positions out to firing positions. Gunnery chiefs yelled at their people like those officers that had commanded the warships of Earth’s oceans.

              “Yes Commander,” Qurv said, a sphere opening in front of the Fleet showing the outer limit of the Free Fleet’s effective fire.

              People moved around, dealing with the smaller issues that came with bringing a ship to full readiness, like ramping up the power reactors, making sure that command systems were ready to be transferred, reporting any issues they encountered.

              There was nothing like war, it was brutal, terrifying and about the worst thing that sentients could do. Yet it was the biggest rush they could get, two sentients smashing together with all the power, smarts and skill they had.

             
There’s nothing quite as bad as war, but there’s no rush quite like it.
Bregend summarized as he snapped his visor shut, locking and sealing. The rest of the bridge followed suit and the first fighters lit up their drives, both the ones that powered their craft, and the ones behind their missiles.

              “The forward fighters have contacted the edge of the Kalu formation,” Zoka reported.

              The fighters and Bombers had been largely kept in their carrier’s hulls as jump fighters were rushed from battle to battle, grinding into the Kalu at every opportunity.

              They had learned a lot watching the Jumpers, and now their simulation was being put to the test.

              Their railguns fired as they raked Kalu ships, fired multi-warhead missiles and used all of their skills to get away from the angered Kalu’s bows which were now spitting out missiles and lasers at any target they could see.

              The first Bombers and their accompanying fighters tumbled and jinked, getting out of the Kalu’s fire.

              The Bombers had yet to truly prove themselves. Now was their first opportunity.

              “Remind me to not piss off our pilots,” Bregend said, loud enough to be heard across the bridge as Bombers opened their bays and
vomited
missiles at the Kalu. Fighters dove in, trying to take the heat from the Bombers.

              The first fighters were clearing the Kalu, they turned back firing anything they still had in their guns and started breaking.

              It took a few more seconds for the last bomber to clear the Kalu formation, their path skirting atmosphere.

              “Domal?” Bregend asked, looking at the sphere which looked to be touching the Kalu’s rear elements.

              “Ready for Laser cannons, twelve seconds until missiles,” Domal reported

              “Fire, release missiles when you have a solution, same for rail cannons,” Bregend said, the first Kalu lasers were now hitting the Free Fleet, causing their shields to glow.

              Dal’s Laser Cannons spoke up, their thundering explosions heard even on the Bridge. Five other ships had the Cannons and added their firepower to the brawl.

              Anything in the weapons path was destroyed.

              Kalu missiles thundered out of their ships.

              Domal, waited. PDS sparked up and space was covered in millions of accelerated rounds hunting down incoming missiles.

              Just when Bregend was about to say something, missile’s ripple-fired from every Free-Fleet ship.

              “Flip!” Domal barked, Kyle repeated the order to the other ships as Wilma did as Domal asked, Dal’s other side presented itself, bringing fresh laser cannons and missile ports in range. Again the Free Fleet ripple-fired every port facing the Kalu.

              “Roll!” Domal barked again, and so it continued, the Kalu’s lasers were spread across the Free Fleet’s shields as they flipped, fired and flipped again.

              “Dash have lost their shields,” Mills said, the main screen showing a ship go from green to yellow.

              “Ilox got a nasty hit in their bow, close to their reactor,” Mills said again as another ship went from green to red.

              “Gunnery, you are free to fire, focus on the missiles,” Domal said into his microphone. Rail cannons erupted, they didn’t have the strength or speed of the Laser Cannons, but they had numbers. Thousands of rounds rolled through ammunition belts feeding their hungry children in the hands of their Gunnery teams.

              Missiles hit the Free Fleet.

              “Destroyer Qin has, she’s gone. Battlecruiser Gomz is rolling. Defiant have lost shields but are still flying, moving out of line of fire,” Mills kept up the commentary. Bregend looked over his fleet. He wanted to yell or do something. At this point all of his people were devoted to their jobs. His actions would only impede them. So he shut up and watched as his people fought.

              “Missiles on the Kalu,” Qurv said.

              “Shields are at sixty percent and falling.” Afnar reported.

              Seventy-thousand ships had been sent at Ershue, the fighters and bombers had taken out nineteen thousand. The leading Kalu were already entering atmosphere.

              “Keep us together Afnar!” Bregend barked, the missiles rushed to meet the Kalu. Wave after wave hit them, blinding sensors to their presence as the Free Fleet came in.

              “Sir, I think we hit one,” Afnar said, his voice totally serious. The Kalu had been braking to enter the planet’s atmosphere and the nuclear waves had blacked out both sides sensors. Collisions in space were so insignificant they were almost an impossibility. When a shit load of ships is all in one place all trying to do the same thing. They can’t see anything and a big assed carrier comes through, well the possibility of a collision rose rather significantly.

              Bregend opened a channel up to his gunners.

              “Come on you bastards, shields are trying to take your jobs now!” He said, laughing as Dal and the rest of the fleet came through their own nuclear wasteland. The gunners, not about to be outdone, and right in the middle of the Kalu fleet, unleashed everything they had. PDS fired right into Kalu ships. The Kalu quickly stopped firing missiles as they were blowing up in their face more often than their enemies.

              “AI’s take over,” Bregend said, seeing they were moments away from passing through the Kalu formation.

              There were seven AI’s in the fleet, and it seemed that even though they were made from numbers and characters, they had their own bloodlust to fulfill.

              The ships rate of fire increased monumentally, ships moved as they blew out guns, crews racing to replace the parts needed as the AI’s fired everything they had. Laser Cannons fired at their limit, temperatures going dangerously high as Kalu and Free Fleet ships clashed.

              Ships exploded, both Kalu and Free Fleet, lighting up the planet’s sky.

              Then they were past the Kalu formation which was descending into Ershue’s atmosphere.

              AI’s returned control to the gunners, coolant flooding their taxed systems.

              Damage crews worked tirelessly to save ships, twenty-seven remained. Seven of which were barely operational. All of them had lost their shields, most of them had been breached. Guns were offline, the gun bays being ripped open. Thankfully Salchar had instituted programs to remove all air from the ship to prevent explosive decompression. Yet it hadn’t helped those in the path of a missile or laser.

              “Collect our fighters and bombers and bring the Fleet around to support Ershue. I want reports on every ship. Anything incapable of combat is either going to be sent to the nearest resupply point to be fixed, or pulled apart for parts and left to drift. Make sure the Ship commanders don’t try to fight on with a fucked ship,” Bregend said, looking to his second. Ship commanders didn’t want to lose the ship that they had fought so hard for.