(Gateway, Lupas Sanctuarii System)
The Conquest Gate opened, from the Prey System, and
throughout the fleet, the members of the Wolf Fleets watched to see what
‘riches’ the Second Capture Force had brought back. The last raid five years
ago had been less than they had hoped, which is why they had to advance the
timetable for acquiring new breeders. If, as some said, the lesser creatures
were almost devoid of prey to take, then they would have to look for other worlds
through the Conquest Gate. Either way, the Wolves would hunt.
And because they were waiting for their conquering heroines,
no one was prepared for what happened next. So long had they been safe in this
system that they had forgotten the possibility of being attacked.
(Ghost Squadron, Lupas Sanctuarii System)
“Ghost Leader to all squadrons! Break into attack
formations! Weapons free! Let’s roll out the welcome mat for the Commodore!”
“Eagle Leader,
Confirm.”
“Sentinel Leader,
Confirm.”
“Giant Leader,
Confirm.”
“Inferno Leader,
Confirm.”
“Phantom Leader,
Confirm.”
Parca nodded to himself as all the squadron leaders reported
in, and the attack began. His Ghosts and Lioness’s Grey Phantoms had been first
through the gate, since their Raptors were stealth ships by definition. Speed
and stealth was what they lived or died by. But they WERE capable of attacking
ships, at least enough to let the better armed and armored Thunderbolts and
Dragons through unmolested. By the time the squadrons were through the gate,
the feeble defenses around the gate were shattered, leaving nothing available
to stop the rest of the fleet from coming through.
It was a slaughter, simply put. A one-sided, hopeless
mismatch that turned into a complete and total slaughter of the defending
forces. No quarter was given, even if the defenders had time to ask for it.
Everyone knew the score. These were pirates and raiders, and they deserved
everything that was about to happen to them and more. The two corvettes and
four defense platforms that had been placed to cover the gate were wiped out
utterly.
And then Shinokage
led the Assassins and the rest of the fleet through the Gateway, pretty much
sealing the deal on whether the ‘beachhead’ was going to be held or not.
“Commodore Mollen to
all fighters, all ships. Raven confirms the presence of three hundred and
fifty-seven individual targets requiring servicing, including space-based and
planetary industrial nodes. All ships are to advance and destroy the enemy
completely. These are fanatics, brainwashed from birth. They have been raiding
the people of Nuevo Edo for generations to sate their misguided ambitions. We
will not permit them to remain a spacefaring ‘civilization’. Execute Mister
Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Parca chuckled, despite himself. Someone was having fun with
the operation names again. “You heard the man. All fighters, targets are now
appearing in your HUDs. Inferno Leader, the two dreadnoughts closest the gate
are begging for your full attention. Thunderbolts, cover Inferno on their run,
and take out the ‘little ships’ as you please. Grey Phantom, Ghosts, we’re
going to hit hard and fast at the industrial nodes, to make sure nobody gets
stupid ideas. Watch out for crossfire, boys and girls. Show these people why they
should have been good neighbors!”
Laughing at the joke that only the Nomads would understand,
he cut the chatter and went FTL with the other Ghosts to service his targets.
(BSN Shinokage,
Lupas Sanctuarii System)
The ‘flag deck’ of Shinokage
was organized chaos. As the battle reports began filtering in, Commodore
Mollen and Raven stood next to the screens showing the layout of the system in
as close to realtime as they could manage. Looking over the screen, the
Commodore gave his orders.
“Inferno Squadron has the two closest dreadnoughts. Jubilee is to take Third Group’s
gunboats and help the fighters wipe out that task group. Focus fire on the
cruisers and mid-level ships. Shinokage
is to take First Group and wipe out the fleet in orbit of the planet. Focus
fire on the dreadnoughts first. Thunderfury
is to follow in our shadow, and assault the primary orbital facility. Marines
are ordered to search and destroy on all combatants, and to look for
intelligence to capture. Full Contamination protocols are in effect. Nightforge is to remain by the gate with
Vicious Return and Dykhaniye Smerti. Carriers are to
prepare to refuel, rearm, and launch fighters. Priority to the Dragons. When
the Dragons are relaunched, I want them pointed at the rest of the enemy
capitol ships.”
Raven nodded to her commander, and said, “The initial
surprise of the attack through the gate worked well. The enemy defenses are
coming online now, but we should be able to avoid any serious casualties. Their
weapons are simply too weak to do anything against modern ships. The fighters
are the only ones in any real danger.”
“Don’t underestimate rabid animals, Raven. They’re cornered,
and they have to know there’s no winning, but that makes them dangerous. Those
ships may be old and slow, but enough of them focusing fire on one point could
rip even the Nightforge to shreds.
They brought handguns for a shootout, and we brought APCs with machine guns,
but that doesn’t mean they can’t do something insane just to bleed us.”
Raven considered the Commodore’s words, and said, “Then why
are we bothering invading their station, when we’re destroying all the others
with prejudice?”
“Because that station is important, and I’m betting any
information worth talking about is going to be mentioned there, somewhere. I
want to know what kind of tech they have, if there’s any of it we can use
safely, or can adapt to our needs without becoming monsters like the
Hundeherstellars. And if they’ve been working on refining that ‘freedom
fighter’ virus the originals had, I can think of a few ways that would be very
useful, don’t you?”
“Yes, I guess it would be. Better to have what information
we can get before we destroy everything these ‘people’ have accomplished since
fleeing known space and leaving them husks of their former selves.”
The Commodore smiled at his companion, and clapped her on
the shoulder. “That’s the spirit, Raven. Now, let’s see how the battle is
going.”
The android looked at the screen, even though she didn’t
need to in order to interpret the data. “Twenty-five percent of targets have
been neutralized all ready, including five of the twelve dreadnoughts. As
expected, the older-model ships are not able to take as much abuse as the newer
ships. All ships are jumping away from combat when their shields fall below
fifty percent, rotating attack runs so that the enemy does not get a chance to
adjust or conduct repairs.” She paused, and then continued, “Update, enemy
casualties have risen to forty-two percent. Fighters returning to carriers for
refueling and rearming. Ghost and Grey Phantom squadrons report all space-based
industrial nodes have been neutralized.”
“Raptors are to be rearmed and then deploy to intercept any
ships leaving the planet before they can get extrasolar. Assume that they will
be leaving a direction other than by the gate. Nightforge and the carriers will cover that direction. All other
fighters are to engage targets of opportunity as they arise.”
“Enemy casualties have risen to fifty-seven percent. The
Marines are now breaching the station. All dreadnoughts have been destroyed.
Commodore, we are receiving a communication from the planet. They are demanding
to know who we are.”
“Send back, text only, ‘Naughty wolves will either be
domesticated or put down.’” The Commodore chuckled as Raven looked at him like
he was a madman. “Let them think what they will. We’re not negotiating with
these people, and we certainly aren’t going to evacuate them or help them with
what is about to come. But if, somehow, they are able to mount a response, I
would rather have it directed at those who deserve it, rather than at my people
or Nuevo Edo.”
“Understood, Commodore. All major enemy ships have been
destroyed. Gunboats and fighters are hunting down the smaller warships and
freighters. Enemy defense network has been destroyed.”
Raven paused, and then said, “Alert! Four ships launched
from the planet below. Four different intercept tracks. Raptor squadrons have
the data, and are moving to intercept. Detecting four old-model FTL drives in
warm-up mode, five minutes until FTL-capable. Ghost and Grey Phantom squadrons
have intercepted. All four ships have been destroyed.”
The Commodore nodded at the not unexpected news, and simply
smiled at his companion. “They are terrorists, Raven. Their kind always run and
hide when things get dangerous. That’s what brought them to this part of space,
after all. They were running from the Hundeherstellar forces when their coup
failed. In the face of overwhelming force, it was only natural that they would
try and run again, saving what they could of their leadership and industrial
base. The improvements in FTL drives since their time made it a certainty that
they could not escape us, provided we had fighters ready to intercept when they
made their move.”
“And you pretended to be their old enemy to flush them out?”
“Say rather that I employed a bit of psychological pressure
on a known facet of their group ideology. If they believed that it was a choice
between death or a worse fate, then the leaders would likely attempt to flee,
and preserve their ‘movement’. On the other hand, if they thought we were just
another enemy come to take this world, then they may have tried to dig in, or
go to ground, and turn it into a guerilla battle on their home turf. If the
leadership was still in place, they might be able to react better to the coming
challenges, and that would make things more difficult.”
“Understood, Commodore. I’ll remember that for future
engagements. Use of psychological warfare to hamper enemy operations. All enemy
ships and installations have been destroyed, except for the primary orbital
platform.”
“Very good. Now, how are the Marines doing?”
“Major Khan reports all major resistance ended when the
enemy ships were destroyed. The remaining forces are standing down. The
computer cores, such as they were, have been physically destroyed. No recovery
possible.”
“Unfortunate, but oh well. Tell the Major to send those who
surrendered down the space elevator to the surface, and then evacuate the
station so Executor and Entropy from Third Group’s gunboat
squadron can have some target practice. Fighters are to leave one squadron of
Thunderbolts on combat air patrol, and all others are to return to base, on
standby, while the Nightforge and carriers remain on station by the Gate.”
He took a breath, and said, “All other ships, advance to the
planet and begin bombardment of all spaceports and ground to space vehicle
launchers. If it can get a manned vehicle to orbit, I want it hit until it will
take at least four months to repair the damage.”
Looking over to the android again, he asked, “What is the
status of the special munitions packages I wanted?”
Raven considered the data, and answered, “Twelve packages
ready to fire. Due to the increased size, we can fit a single package on each
Dragon-type fighter. Time to equip Inferno squadron with the packages:
approximately five hours.”
“Do it, and contact our observers upon the Smerti. Ask the Premier if she and the
General would like to be present as we finish the threat of the Amazons to
Nuevo Edo once and for all, and offer them an invitation to the Shinokage in five hours time.”
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
Into the Black (Sci-Fi GameLit):
Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y
City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
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