HOME | DD

Description
Krystal and Chase: Storm Front

Part 1: Big Guns

As colonist ran from the attacking force, a fighter screamed overhead, loosing two bolts of energy that slammed into a communications tower. As the tower fell, civilians fled as security forces tried to handle the attacking threat. Anti-air rounds filled the skies over the colony as ground forces engaged the robotic enemies. As the large guns fired, a fighter was struck just before the engines, an explosion bringing the enemy attacker down and slamming into a building! Smoke rose from the destruction on the ground as transports tried to get airborne before more of the enemy crafts swept over the airfields, opening fire at anything that was attempting escape.
Within the chaos of the fighting, several mercenary teams were trying to assist the fleeing colonists against the robotic forces on the ground. A wolf squeezed the trigger of his rifle, the armor piercing rounds tearing through one of the Reaper units that had been advancing on his team. The robot fell as another took its place, the red stripe down it’s side giving away it’s command unit ranking as it opened fire. The wolf took cover as his teammate fired from behind her cover, a wrecked hovercraft that had been shot down just moments before, the flames still burning within it, distorting the view through it.
“We need to kill that command unit.” The wolf shouted to her as the falcon took down another of the Reapers.
“Yeah, I know what to shoot at!” She shouted back, dropping behind cover as the command Reaper raised its gatling cannon arm, the energy weapon firing rapidly at her cover.
As it fired, a shot was heard from further away, the command unit’s head disappearing as it crumpled to the ground, giving the wolf and falcon time to take out the remaining reapers that had been within its’ command radius. Further away in a ruined tower, a ferret reloaded, his sniper barrel wafting smoke as he let the empty magazine clatter to the floor as he inserted a fresh one. As he took aim down the scope again to take down another of the command units, a sound caught his ear. The ferret drew his pistol as he turned to find a robot floating in front of him, two clawed hands raised as the robot’s soul-less eyes stared into his own. As his pistol fired, the Ghost fell, sparking from the four holes now punched through its’ chest.
The ferret put a hand to the com-link over his ear, “All mercenary teams be on alert. We have confirmation of Sev`fel Ghost units.”
“Roger that, Sigma-four.” The wolf replied, “Just great…bad enough we’re waiting for security to clear the skies to get out of here, now we have to worry about getting stabbed in the back by invisible robots.”
The falcon fired again, blasting away another Reaper unit before reloading, “Focus on getting the colonists off world. What’s the status of our carrier? Do they have the prime weapon ready to fire?”
Almost as if on cue, an explosion light up the colony skies. The shining bloom of destruction erupted from the darkness burning away the hope of a successful evacuation.
“We just lost our carrier!” The wolf cried out.
The falcon cursed before opening fire again, finishing off the units before them before dropping back down and reloading, “We need a new plan.”
As she spoke, the ferret further off noticed something in the skies above them. A single star in the sky was glowing brighter and brighter. Once his mind realized what was about to happen it was too late. The energy beam shot down from the heavens, striking dead center in the colony below as the fighters that had been assaulting the colony from above retreated. The beam grew wider, everything within its range being wiped from existence as a ball of energy grew from the strike point. The ground shook as the energy grew and expanded, eating up anything that it touched as the fires of the attack were fanned before the massive build up detonated. Shockwaves destroyed buildings as they shot out from the center of the blast, anything within the energy release destroyed before it could register what had just happened.
Within those last few moments, the colony had fallen. Nothing was left of the small colony aside from flaming ruins around a large crater of what had once been the center of the colony. Everything organic or robotic within the blast that had engulfed the colony was gone from existence…
* * *
“Six of our colonies wiped out within a week.” A human stated before looking up at the pair before him, “All of them attacked and destroyed with few to no survivors. This is a blatant attack on our assets, but we are on our own to deal with this threat the Sev`fel have brought forth.”
“Why hasn’t Lylat Command on Corneria been notified of the attacks?” the blue furred vixen asked, sitting down as her partner continued to stand.
“Because they have not attacked any other asset besides our colonies, Ronin-2.” The human explained, “The enemy has not yet struck other colonies of any other corporation or government. It seems the Sev`fel are directing their attacks on our corporation exclusively. Though we have noticed a trend in the attack targets besides that they were researching and developing certain technologies for the corporation.”
The red fox nodded and leaned back against the wall, “Let me guess, they were all developing technology that would either scan for large fleet traffic in jump or anti-robotic counter measures.”
The human cocked an eyebrow, though showing no other emotion, “Both, actually. After a recent discovery of the Sev`fel beginning to show signs of rebuilding their war fleets, we began to develop the technology to improve our electronic counter measures and jump space detectors for fleets such as Lylat Command. We believed the attacks were linked to our research. It appears we were correct to assume this.”
“This could be proof that the Sev`fel are preparing for full scale war.” The vixen stated, “Why hasn’t Lylat Command been mobilizing or at least checking on this?”
“Because they still live in the fantasy that the Sev`fel are through, Krystal.” The male replied, “I doubt I’d want to believe that a force that powerful is returning to take over the system if I hadn’t see half of what we have.”
The human stood up and turned his back on the two, looking down at the planet below them, “No one wants to believe that the Sev`fel are returning. Thirty years ago, the war they caused devastated over ninety percent of the planets within the Lylat system. Some were left in ruins, such as Katina or sections of Sector Y. Others have since recovered and moved on. The war was turned here on Sauria before we began to push them back beyond the fringe of the system. Even then, every corporation force and the armed forces of several governments had to work together to begin that turning point.”
“We all know the history of it, Hiigan.” The fox replied, “Can we please get to why we’re here? If the Sev`fel are attacking, we need to strike!”
“You two are here because they have something of ours.” Hiigan replied, turning back to face them, “Before these attacks began, there was a raid on one of our weapon research facilities on Titania. The colony was engaged by a frigate of, at the time, unknown origin. We now realize it was a frigate stolen from a Lylat Command patrol unit and retrofitted to Sev`fel needs.”
Krystal thought for a second before speaking, “But the Sev`fel have their own frigates. Why would they steal one, especially from Lylat Command?”
“To hide.” Chase stated, “They knew it would take time for us to figure out who had struck, and maybe even cause some chaos between us and Lylat Command, so they bought themselves more time by using a frigate we wouldn’t be able to identify off the bat.”
“Once again, you are correct Ronin.” Hiigan stated, bringing up a holographic display of a large energy cannon, “This was the data they stole. Luckily, we had received a copy of the weapon’s progress from the colony two days before the attack. Thought it would seem they have completed it.”
The weapon was small in the hologram, but Chase and Krystal both knew that the hologram was far from to scale. Spinning silently before them was a design for an energy cannon of massive power, too big for any standard vessel to use.
“That thing’s got to be massive.” Chase said.
“It is a carrier based energy weapon designed for use as a so called ‘super weapon’.” Hiigan explained, “It acts much like the main cannon aboard the Frontal Assault Vehicle, just on a much larger scale. It was primarily designed to be used in only the worst of worst case scenarios to wipe out enemy forces within one shot as well as wiping out their outposts.”
“So, basically it’s a really big gun designed for wiping out entire battalions at a time?” Chase asked, “I love excessive firepower, but even that’s ridiculous for use.”
“That seems harsh, even for the Sev`fel.” Krystal said, her ears pinning back sadly, “Why do we need weapons like that?”
“Peace keeping.” Hiigan stated calmly, “The corporation was hired by Lylat Command to build the weapon as a deterrent for future attacks after our diplomatic teams managed to secure the contract. As history has shown, he who has the bigger, better guns and forces tends to win the wars. But, the weapon has fallen into the hands of the Sev`fel. Now, it is your job to make sure that they do not produce more of them. We have located something big within the Meteo belt that has producing unusually high levels of energy. After a recon team went in, they reported a Sev`fel shipyard was the source. Shortly after that, we lost contact. It is our belief that they were attacked and destroyed. And, until we can secure the device or destroy it, Lylat command is firmly stating that such a weapon does not, and will not, ever exist among their arsenal.”
“So we go in and blow it up?” Chase asked, “Seems too easy.”
“If this facility is where the super weapon carrying carriers are being created, they’ll have it heavily guarded.” Krystal assumed as a hologram of the Meteo belt appeared over the table, “Probably a warship or two guarding it with fighter reinforcements, not to mention anti ship mines and probably anti-fighter cannons mounted on the asteroids themselves. Not to mention the probability of a newer generation, anti-capital ship class, ion cannons on the shipyard itself.”
Hiigan nodded, “We are assuming as such. Which is why we’re sending Dagger in to clear the Meteo belt of all hostile forces.”
“Which means we’re on deck for the attack, huh?” Chase asked, “Now that’s more like it. Can’t wait to blow up a few of those jerks.”
Hiigan simply ignored Chase, “Your target is the shipyard. We destroy that, and we can halt their production long enough for our techs to create and release a virus into their networks from a frigate we will have stationed just outside the belt that will destroy the data the Sev`fel stole from us. But the transmission must be close to the shipyard to infiltrate their networks.”
“If we destroy the shipyard, how will we be able to release the virus?” Krystal asked.
Hiigan stood up, “That is in the hands of carrier captain Raye and her cyber warfare team in communications wit the frigate. Your mission is to escort the carrier into the combat zone and, if necessary, assist in taking down the capital class vessels or any other hostiles. Dismissed.”
* * *
Hours later, the carrier Dagger left jump space with a smaller, communications frigate in tow. As the two slowly moved towards the shipyard’s location, a feline watched the progress on a monitor before her, her arms crossed behind her as her crew assisted the large ship in navigating through the treacherous space. Large asteroids floated silently as the carrier glided past them, making minuet adjustments to keep from impacting any.
“We’re picking up an energy signature from within the belt.” A wolf stated, “On target and scanning.”
“Good, keep me informed.” Raye replied, “Helmsmen, keep us on course. And keep our emissions under radar. We don’t want to alert our hosts quite yet. And get on the coms and tell that frigate to hold its position until we signal for them to transmit.”
“Anti-ship mines detected further in. Carrier intelligence program is advising course correction.” One of the crew stated, “Orders?”
“Send out the sweeper units.” Raye stated, “Removing those mines will make this mission go much smoother. And don’t start to rely on that AI. They could never begin to replace the value of the organic, experienced minds we all have.”
On a deck slightly lower than the main hangar of the carrier, a set of heavy hangar bay doors opened slowly, releasing a small swarm of ships. These smaller craft were oval in shape, two powerful thrusters on the tail end of the crafts propelling them into the void of space. On either side of the crafts were two arms with claw like ‘hands’ used originally to collect debris from scuttled vessels to recycle. These had been fitted with magnetic clamps with small EMP emitters built in to collect and disable anti-ship mines. In order to maximize safety in collecting the mines, each craft was controlled through a hive minded intelligence that was controlled by several member of the carrier’s crew. These units spread out into the asteroid belt, sensors aboard each one identified the mines and disabled them, keeping within their broadcast range from the carrier.
As the sweeper units cleared the mines that they found, the carrier’s defense crew began powering up the carrier’s defensive cannon array as well as beginning an overcharge of the carrier’s main shielding systems. Energy weapons powered up and began sweeping for enemy contacts. As the carrier continued on its path forward, the order went out for pilots to prepare for the assault on the shipyard.
* * *
“That’s our cue.” Chase said as he stood up, kicking aside a box that he’d been using as a chair after the carrier had left jump space.
Krystal looked up from the cockpit of her Phoenix, the vixen having been running a diagnostic on the craft to be sure that all systems were active, “I just hope we can stop them from building more of these super weapons with this assault.”
Chase climbed into the cockpit of his Phoenix and ran a diagnostic, “Problem is, even if we destroy this shipyard, they still have the weapons already active. We’ll need to find and destroy that carrier.”
As he checked his weapons systems, a voice came over the com link in his cockpit, “Well then Ronin, you’re in luck. We’ve identified the signature as having two parts.”
Chase looked up as a hologram of captain Raye appeared on the flight deck, “It appears we have caught the Sev`fel performing maintenance on a carrier with the same energy signature of the one that has been attacking our colonies this past week. Due to this new intelligence, we will be dividing into two strike groups. The majority of the attack will still focus on taking down that shipyard and defending the Caliber bombers from attack. A second strike group will consist of Dark Eagles, two Caliber groups, and this carrier. We will be engaging the enemy carrier itself in ship to ship combat, close range.”
“Good, that should keep the Sev`fel off guard.” Chase said to himself as the fox checked his missile systems, test firing the system, “Forcing them to fight two fronts will work well for us.”
As Chase looked up again, a hologram of the shipyard had replaced the hologram of the captain. Various points of the hologram were flashing as other pilots looked at it, making their plans on the attack. As Chase glanced to his partner, he saw that Krystal was looking back at him, the vixen already knowing her role as well as his own in defending the bomber squadron. While dog fighting with the enemy wasn’t usually a role interceptors were known for, both of them knew that the fight would be crucial in keeping the Sev`fel away from the bombers long enough to take down the shipyard.
“These are the weak points that our scans have picked up in the shipyard’s hull.” Raye continued to explain, “These points will need to be hit hard and fast by our Caliber bombers. While this attack is underway, the second assault will begin as this carrier engages the enemy in ship-to-ship combat. We need all the time we can get to upload the virus to their systems to destroy all traces that this weapon ever existed or was stolen from us. I can almost promise you all that some of you may not return from this fight. But we all knew that price when we signed up for the life of corporate strike operatives, mercenaries, and pilots in the first place. The most important thing here is that we destroy that shipyard and carrier before more of them are produced carrying the super weapon. Get ready to fly, we attack in ten.”
Chase smiled as the fox grabbed the grip of his canopy, pulling it forward before hearing the audible click as the cockpit closed down and pressurized. As the interceptors systems came online, Chase glanced over the read out as a female voice spoke to him.
“All systems are online Ronin.” The voice stated, “Opening channels between interceptors.”
“Thanks Jen.” Chase replied as a headshot of Krystal appeared in the upper corner of his HUD, “Ronin-2, you read me?”
Krystal looked up from her own systems check, “Yeah, I read you Ronin. Just getting everything ready and running a few system diagnostics.”
With a nod, Chase flipped through his own weapons systems before he noticed a slight abnormality in his shielding levels.
“Jen, I think something’s wrong with the shielding system.” The fox noted, “It’s down by two percent from topping off.”
“Minor system adjustments were needed in order to fully equip this interceptor for interstellar warfare.” The AI replied, “In addition to the standard pulse cannons, the interceptor classes were fitted for Gauss cannons for this mission, as they have proven well against frigate to capital class vessels. But, in order to power the gauss cannon’s magnetic accelerators with a smaller craft’s power core systems, additional power was required. In order to gain this power, minor portions of the Phoenix GX-4’s shielding systems were incorporated and siphoned for power. This draw is over all minor and will not affect the performance of the Phoenix GX-4 under combat stress.”
Chase sighed, “So, in short, in order to power shiny new gun, I sacrificed shield strength as well as two pulse cannons from the usual four cannon array?”
“Correct.” Jennifer replied.
“Then you could have just said that.” Chase stated before sitting back, “You get all that Krystal?”
The vixen glanced up from her own read out, “Yeah, I got it. That explains the power fluctuation I saw during the diagnostics. But it makes sense at least.”
Suddenly, an alarm sounded! As it did, the various makes of fighter craft sealed down their cockpits, pressurizing as the hangar staff evacuated the deck for depressurization of the deck in order to launch the fighters. With that, the fighters began to power up, thrusters roaring to life as each craft rose off the hull. As the heavy hangar doors slowly opened, the fighters queued into their squadrons before leaving the carrier, an organized swarm of mercenary pilots entering the black, asteroid filled vacuum of the Meteo belt.
Once they had left the carrier, the strike teams began to form. Dark Eagle assault fighters swarmed around smaller groups of the larger and slower Caliber class bombers. As they did, Phoenix interceptors took point, leading the strike teams into their groups. Communications between group leaders kept the fighters in formation, the various strike teams and configurations varying to keep safety in numbers. With this strategy, the interceptors and fighters would, in theory, keep enemies at bay while the bombers took down their targets.
* * *
As the fighters left the carrier and formed their teams, Captain Raye watched in silence. Her tail flicked slowly back and forth as the cat looked from the main viewing port to the crews working along the bridge. As she walked back to her post, the cat’s eyes glanced over each read out she could see, the various information ranging from weapons and energy read outs, to shielding systems, to thruster and power core temperature monitors. The crew spoke among themselves as the pilots of the massive vessel kept their information going to the helmsman in order to successfully navigate the belt.
As she stood beside the helmsman, the cat glanced down at him. As she did, the lynx looked back up at her with a nod, knowing what she was thinking. With a couple of taps to a console beside him, a holographic display appeared before the captain. The external cameras of the carrier displayed before her, Raye glanced over them and took note of various points of interest to her. On the biggest display was their target, the Sev`fel shipyard.
“It’s bigger than we expected.” Raye mentioned as she looked at it, studying it for weaknesses that a computer couldn’t detect, “Luckily it’s immobile, probably towed out here by a carrier team. There’s no warp core detected within so they can’t escape us. Plus, it looks like they aren’t expecting us. Or if they are, they’re good at hiding it. They don’t seem to have their defenses online right now.”
“Think we caught them off guard?” the helmsman asked.
Raye shook her head, “Not for long. Even if they are performing maintenance, they’ll have short-range scanners and radar working. They’ll find us before we can hit them.”
“And then?” the lynx asked.
“Then we get in range,” Raye said looking at him, “and we unleash hell upon them.”

Description
Krystal and Chase: Storm Front

Part 1: Big Guns

As colonist ran from the attacking force, a fighter screamed overhead, loosing two bolts of energy that slammed into a communications tower. As the tower fell, civilians fled as security forces tried to handle the attacking threat. Anti-air rounds filled the skies over the colony as ground forces engaged the robotic enemies. As the large guns fired, a fighter was struck just before the engines, an explosion bringing the enemy attacker down and slamming into a building! Smoke rose from the destruction on the ground as transports tried to get airborne before more of the enemy crafts swept over the airfields, opening fire at anything that was attempting escape.
Within the chaos of the fighting, several mercenary teams were trying to assist the fleeing colonists against the robotic forces on the ground. A wolf squeezed the trigger of his rifle, the armor piercing rounds tearing through one of the Reaper units that had been advancing on his team. The robot fell as another took its place, the red stripe down it’s side giving away it’s command unit ranking as it opened fire. The wolf took cover as his teammate fired from behind her cover, a wrecked hovercraft that had been shot down just moments before, the flames still burning within it, distorting the view through it.
“We need to kill that command unit.” The wolf shouted to her as the falcon took down another of the Reapers.
“Yeah, I know what to shoot at!” She shouted back, dropping behind cover as the command Reaper raised its gatling cannon arm, the energy weapon firing rapidly at her cover.
As it fired, a shot was heard from further away, the command unit’s head disappearing as it crumpled to the ground, giving the wolf and falcon time to take out the remaining reapers that had been within its’ command radius. Further away in a ruined tower, a ferret reloaded, his sniper barrel wafting smoke as he let the empty magazine clatter to the floor as he inserted a fresh one. As he took aim down the scope again to take down another of the command units, a sound caught his ear. The ferret drew his pistol as he turned to find a robot floating in front of him, two clawed hands raised as the robot’s soul-less eyes stared into his own. As his pistol fired, the Ghost fell, sparking from the four holes now punched through its’ chest.
The ferret put a hand to the com-link over his ear, “All mercenary teams be on alert. We have confirmation of Sev`fel Ghost units.”
“Roger that, Sigma-four.” The wolf replied, “Just great…bad enough we’re waiting for security to clear the skies to get out of here, now we have to worry about getting stabbed in the back by invisible robots.”
The falcon fired again, blasting away another Reaper unit before reloading, “Focus on getting the colonists off world. What’s the status of our carrier? Do they have the prime weapon ready to fire?”
Almost as if on cue, an explosion light up the colony skies. The shining bloom of destruction erupted from the darkness burning away the hope of a successful evacuation.
“We just lost our carrier!” The wolf cried out.
The falcon cursed before opening fire again, finishing off the units before them before dropping back down and reloading, “We need a new plan.”
As she spoke, the ferret further off noticed something in the skies above them. A single star in the sky was glowing brighter and brighter. Once his mind realized what was about to happen it was too late. The energy beam shot down from the heavens, striking dead center in the colony below as the fighters that had been assaulting the colony from above retreated. The beam grew wider, everything within its range being wiped from existence as a ball of energy grew from the strike point. The ground shook as the energy grew and expanded, eating up anything that it touched as the fires of the attack were fanned before the massive build up detonated. Shockwaves destroyed buildings as they shot out from the center of the blast, anything within the energy release destroyed before it could register what had just happened.
Within those last few moments, the colony had fallen. Nothing was left of the small colony aside from flaming ruins around a large crater of what had once been the center of the colony. Everything organic or robotic within the blast that had engulfed the colony was gone from existence…
* * *
“Six of our colonies wiped out within a week.” A human stated before looking up at the pair before him, “All of them attacked and destroyed with few to no survivors. This is a blatant attack on our assets, but we are on our own to deal with this threat the Sev`fel have brought forth.”
“Why hasn’t Lylat Command on Corneria been notified of the attacks?” the blue furred vixen asked, sitting down as her partner continued to stand.
“Because they have not attacked any other asset besides our colonies, Ronin-2.” The human explained, “The enemy has not yet struck other colonies of any other corporation or government. It seems the Sev`fel are directing their attacks on our corporation exclusively. Though we have noticed a trend in the attack targets besides that they were researching and developing certain technologies for the corporation.”
The red fox nodded and leaned back against the wall, “Let me guess, they were all developing technology that would either scan for large fleet traffic in jump or anti-robotic counter measures.”
The human cocked an eyebrow, though showing no other emotion, “Both, actually. After a recent discovery of the Sev`fel beginning to show signs of rebuilding their war fleets, we began to develop the technology to improve our electronic counter measures and jump space detectors for fleets such as Lylat Command. We believed the attacks were linked to our research. It appears we were correct to assume this.”
“This could be proof that the Sev`fel are preparing for full scale war.” The vixen stated, “Why hasn’t Lylat Command been mobilizing or at least checking on this?”
“Because they still live in the fantasy that the Sev`fel are through, Krystal.” The male replied, “I doubt I’d want to believe that a force that powerful is returning to take over the system if I hadn’t see half of what we have.”
The human stood up and turned his back on the two, looking down at the planet below them, “No one wants to believe that the Sev`fel are returning. Thirty years ago, the war they caused devastated over ninety percent of the planets within the Lylat system. Some were left in ruins, such as Katina or sections of Sector Y. Others have since recovered and moved on. The war was turned here on Sauria before we began to push them back beyond the fringe of the system. Even then, every corporation force and the armed forces of several governments had to work together to begin that turning point.”
“We all know the history of it, Hiigan.” The fox replied, “Can we please get to why we’re here? If the Sev`fel are attacking, we need to strike!”
“You two are here because they have something of ours.” Hiigan replied, turning back to face them, “Before these attacks began, there was a raid on one of our weapon research facilities on Titania. The colony was engaged by a frigate of, at the time, unknown origin. We now realize it was a frigate stolen from a Lylat Command patrol unit and retrofitted to Sev`fel needs.”
Krystal thought for a second before speaking, “But the Sev`fel have their own frigates. Why would they steal one, especially from Lylat Command?”
“To hide.” Chase stated, “They knew it would take time for us to figure out who had struck, and maybe even cause some chaos between us and Lylat Command, so they bought themselves more time by using a frigate we wouldn’t be able to identify off the bat.”
“Once again, you are correct Ronin.” Hiigan stated, bringing up a holographic display of a large energy cannon, “This was the data they stole. Luckily, we had received a copy of the weapon’s progress from the colony two days before the attack. Thought it would seem they have completed it.”
The weapon was small in the hologram, but Chase and Krystal both knew that the hologram was far from to scale. Spinning silently before them was a design for an energy cannon of massive power, too big for any standard vessel to use.
“That thing’s got to be massive.” Chase said.
“It is a carrier based energy weapon designed for use as a so called ‘super weapon’.” Hiigan explained, “It acts much like the main cannon aboard the Frontal Assault Vehicle, just on a much larger scale. It was primarily designed to be used in only the worst of worst case scenarios to wipe out enemy forces within one shot as well as wiping out their outposts.”
“So, basically it’s a really big gun designed for wiping out entire battalions at a time?” Chase asked, “I love excessive firepower, but even that’s ridiculous for use.”
“That seems harsh, even for the Sev`fel.” Krystal said, her ears pinning back sadly, “Why do we need weapons like that?”
“Peace keeping.” Hiigan stated calmly, “The corporation was hired by Lylat Command to build the weapon as a deterrent for future attacks after our diplomatic teams managed to secure the contract. As history has shown, he who has the bigger, better guns and forces tends to win the wars. But, the weapon has fallen into the hands of the Sev`fel. Now, it is your job to make sure that they do not produce more of them. We have located something big within the Meteo belt that has producing unusually high levels of energy. After a recon team went in, they reported a Sev`fel shipyard was the source. Shortly after that, we lost contact. It is our belief that they were attacked and destroyed. And, until we can secure the device or destroy it, Lylat command is firmly stating that such a weapon does not, and will not, ever exist among their arsenal.”
“So we go in and blow it up?” Chase asked, “Seems too easy.”
“If this facility is where the super weapon carrying carriers are being created, they’ll have it heavily guarded.” Krystal assumed as a hologram of the Meteo belt appeared over the table, “Probably a warship or two guarding it with fighter reinforcements, not to mention anti ship mines and probably anti-fighter cannons mounted on the asteroids themselves. Not to mention the probability of a newer generation, anti-capital ship class, ion cannons on the shipyard itself.”
Hiigan nodded, “We are assuming as such. Which is why we’re sending Dagger in to clear the Meteo belt of all hostile forces.”
“Which means we’re on deck for the attack, huh?” Chase asked, “Now that’s more like it. Can’t wait to blow up a few of those jerks.”
Hiigan simply ignored Chase, “Your target is the shipyard. We destroy that, and we can halt their production long enough for our techs to create and release a virus into their networks from a frigate we will have stationed just outside the belt that will destroy the data the Sev`fel stole from us. But the transmission must be close to the shipyard to infiltrate their networks.”
“If we destroy the shipyard, how will we be able to release the virus?” Krystal asked.
Hiigan stood up, “That is in the hands of carrier captain Raye and her cyber warfare team in communications wit the frigate. Your mission is to escort the carrier into the combat zone and, if necessary, assist in taking down the capital class vessels or any other hostiles. Dismissed.”
* * *
Hours later, the carrier Dagger left jump space with a smaller, communications frigate in tow. As the two slowly moved towards the shipyard’s location, a feline watched the progress on a monitor before her, her arms crossed behind her as her crew assisted the large ship in navigating through the treacherous space. Large asteroids floated silently as the carrier glided past them, making minuet adjustments to keep from impacting any.
“We’re picking up an energy signature from within the belt.” A wolf stated, “On target and scanning.”
“Good, keep me informed.” Raye replied, “Helmsmen, keep us on course. And keep our emissions under radar. We don’t want to alert our hosts quite yet. And get on the coms and tell that frigate to hold its position until we signal for them to transmit.”
“Anti-ship mines detected further in. Carrier intelligence program is advising course correction.” One of the crew stated, “Orders?”
“Send out the sweeper units.” Raye stated, “Removing those mines will make this mission go much smoother. And don’t start to rely on that AI. They could never begin to replace the value of the organic, experienced minds we all have.”
On a deck slightly lower than the main hangar of the carrier, a set of heavy hangar bay doors opened slowly, releasing a small swarm of ships. These smaller craft were oval in shape, two powerful thrusters on the tail end of the crafts propelling them into the void of space. On either side of the crafts were two arms with claw like ‘hands’ used originally to collect debris from scuttled vessels to recycle. These had been fitted with magnetic clamps with small EMP emitters built in to collect and disable anti-ship mines. In order to maximize safety in collecting the mines, each craft was controlled through a hive minded intelligence that was controlled by several member of the carrier’s crew. These units spread out into the asteroid belt, sensors aboard each one identified the mines and disabled them, keeping within their broadcast range from the carrier.
As the sweeper units cleared the mines that they found, the carrier’s defense crew began powering up the carrier’s defensive cannon array as well as beginning an overcharge of the carrier’s main shielding systems. Energy weapons powered up and began sweeping for enemy contacts. As the carrier continued on its path forward, the order went out for pilots to prepare for the assault on the shipyard.
* * *
“That’s our cue.” Chase said as he stood up, kicking aside a box that he’d been using as a chair after the carrier had left jump space.
Krystal looked up from the cockpit of her Phoenix, the vixen having been running a diagnostic on the craft to be sure that all systems were active, “I just hope we can stop them from building more of these super weapons with this assault.”
Chase climbed into the cockpit of his Phoenix and ran a diagnostic, “Problem is, even if we destroy this shipyard, they still have the weapons already active. We’ll need to find and destroy that carrier.”
As he checked his weapons systems, a voice came over the com link in his cockpit, “Well then Ronin, you’re in luck. We’ve identified the signature as having two parts.”
Chase looked up as a hologram of captain Raye appeared on the flight deck, “It appears we have caught the Sev`fel performing maintenance on a carrier with the same energy signature of the one that has been attacking our colonies this past week. Due to this new intelligence, we will be dividing into two strike groups. The majority of the attack will still focus on taking down that shipyard and defending the Caliber bombers from attack. A second strike group will consist of Dark Eagles, two Caliber groups, and this carrier. We will be engaging the enemy carrier itself in ship to ship combat, close range.”
“Good, that should keep the Sev`fel off guard.” Chase said to himself as the fox checked his missile systems, test firing the system, “Forcing them to fight two fronts will work well for us.”
As Chase looked up again, a hologram of the shipyard had replaced the hologram of the captain. Various points of the hologram were flashing as other pilots looked at it, making their plans on the attack. As Chase glanced to his partner, he saw that Krystal was looking back at him, the vixen already knowing her role as well as his own in defending the bomber squadron. While dog fighting with the enemy wasn’t usually a role interceptors were known for, both of them knew that the fight would be crucial in keeping the Sev`fel away from the bombers long enough to take down the shipyard.
“These are the weak points that our scans have picked up in the shipyard’s hull.” Raye continued to explain, “These points will need to be hit hard and fast by our Caliber bombers. While this attack is underway, the second assault will begin as this carrier engages the enemy in ship-to-ship combat. We need all the time we can get to upload the virus to their systems to destroy all traces that this weapon ever existed or was stolen from us. I can almost promise you all that some of you may not return from this fight. But we all knew that price when we signed up for the life of corporate strike operatives, mercenaries, and pilots in the first place. The most important thing here is that we destroy that shipyard and carrier before more of them are produced carrying the super weapon. Get ready to fly, we attack in ten.”
Chase smiled as the fox grabbed the grip of his canopy, pulling it forward before hearing the audible click as the cockpit closed down and pressurized. As the interceptors systems came online, Chase glanced over the read out as a female voice spoke to him.
“All systems are online Ronin.” The voice stated, “Opening channels between interceptors.”
“Thanks Jen.” Chase replied as a headshot of Krystal appeared in the upper corner of his HUD, “Ronin-2, you read me?”
Krystal looked up from her own systems check, “Yeah, I read you Ronin. Just getting everything ready and running a few system diagnostics.”
With a nod, Chase flipped through his own weapons systems before he noticed a slight abnormality in his shielding levels.
“Jen, I think something’s wrong with the shielding system.” The fox noted, “It’s down by two percent from topping off.”
“Minor system adjustments were needed in order to fully equip this interceptor for interstellar warfare.” The AI replied, “In addition to the standard pulse cannons, the interceptor classes were fitted for Gauss cannons for this mission, as they have proven well against frigate to capital class vessels. But, in order to power the gauss cannon’s magnetic accelerators with a smaller craft’s power core systems, additional power was required. In order to gain this power, minor portions of the Phoenix GX-4’s shielding systems were incorporated and siphoned for power. This draw is over all minor and will not affect the performance of the Phoenix GX-4 under combat stress.”
Chase sighed, “So, in short, in order to power shiny new gun, I sacrificed shield strength as well as two pulse cannons from the usual four cannon array?”
“Correct.” Jennifer replied.
“Then you could have just said that.” Chase stated before sitting back, “You get all that Krystal?”
The vixen glanced up from her own read out, “Yeah, I got it. That explains the power fluctuation I saw during the diagnostics. But it makes sense at least.”
Suddenly, an alarm sounded! As it did, the various makes of fighter craft sealed down their cockpits, pressurizing as the hangar staff evacuated the deck for depressurization of the deck in order to launch the fighters. With that, the fighters began to power up, thrusters roaring to life as each craft rose off the hull. As the heavy hangar doors slowly opened, the fighters queued into their squadrons before leaving the carrier, an organized swarm of mercenary pilots entering the black, asteroid filled vacuum of the Meteo belt.
Once they had left the carrier, the strike teams began to form. Dark Eagle assault fighters swarmed around smaller groups of the larger and slower Caliber class bombers. As they did, Phoenix interceptors took point, leading the strike teams into their groups. Communications between group leaders kept the fighters in formation, the various strike teams and configurations varying to keep safety in numbers. With this strategy, the interceptors and fighters would, in theory, keep enemies at bay while the bombers took down their targets.
* * *
As the fighters left the carrier and formed their teams, Captain Raye watched in silence. Her tail flicked slowly back and forth as the cat looked from the main viewing port to the crews working along the bridge. As she walked back to her post, the cat’s eyes glanced over each read out she could see, the various information ranging from weapons and energy read outs, to shielding systems, to thruster and power core temperature monitors. The crew spoke among themselves as the pilots of the massive vessel kept their information going to the helmsman in order to successfully navigate the belt.
As she stood beside the helmsman, the cat glanced down at him. As she did, the lynx looked back up at her with a nod, knowing what she was thinking. With a couple of taps to a console beside him, a holographic display appeared before the captain. The external cameras of the carrier displayed before her, Raye glanced over them and took note of various points of interest to her. On the biggest display was their target, the Sev`fel shipyard.
“It’s bigger than we expected.” Raye mentioned as she looked at it, studying it for weaknesses that a computer couldn’t detect, “Luckily it’s immobile, probably towed out here by a carrier team. There’s no warp core detected within so they can’t escape us. Plus, it looks like they aren’t expecting us. Or if they are, they’re good at hiding it. They don’t seem to have their defenses online right now.”
“Think we caught them off guard?” the helmsman asked.
Raye shook her head, “Not for long. Even if they are performing maintenance, they’ll have short-range scanners and radar working. They’ll find us before we can hit them.”
“And then?” the lynx asked.
“Then we get in range,” Raye said looking at him, “and we unleash hell upon them.”