(Main Bridge, BSN Shinokage, Tsk’neth System, Free
Worlds Alliance)
“Master, Tangos 1 through 24 have been eliminated. Orgrim’s
Hammer has disabled Tango 25, and preparing to send boarders to capture the
ship.”
“Excellent work, Captain. My compliments to the gun crews and
the fleet. Order Ebon Blade squadron to return to base, the Crows can take on patrol
duties. Have the Atlanta and Artemis see if they can tractor any
of the larger pieces of debris from the enemy fleet into stable orbits of the
planet. When the relief fleet gets here, I’m sure they will appreciate having
some readily available raw materials to start recycling into building the
shipyard.”
“At once, Master.”
I turned back to look at the screens. The battle had gone
just as predicted. Battle. Hell, it was more like a scrimmage between
professional athletes and a high school junior varsity team.
Honestly, the Yathru forces put up a decent enough fight,
considering that they were usually going up against pirates and maybe some
corporate raiders. They might even have been good at their jobs. Unfortunately
for them, I hadn’t been boasting when I said that my ships and crews were far
superior to theirs.
The whole battle was only twenty minutes from start to
finish, and the only reason it took that long was because of the distances
involved when the fight started. The corporate fleet’s shields had been tuned to
defend against energy weapons. Understandable, since most pirates didn’t use
torpedoes, favoring energy weapons and their lack of physical ammunition.
However, that meant that a single torpedo could cripple the lighter ships, if
not destroy them outright. And the quickly rebalanced shields were not strong
enough to save the larger ships (the destroyers and the second of the two
battlecruisers) when my ships brought their main guns to bear.
Meanwhile, the Yathru ships’ weapons were powerful, but all
my ships had shields fit for warships larger than their weight class. Their
beams were better than most civilian ships, and they definitely dealt damage,
but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough. Frankly, the ships died too
quickly for them to get enough time on target on my better shielded and nimbler
ships.
“All ships, damage report.”
“Atlanta has taken minor damage. Captain Veleth
reports that the last broadside from one of the destroyers disabled their
hyperdrive and shorted out the capacitor for the anchor drive. A few minor casualties,
but no deaths. All other ships report a few minor injuries due to high-speed
maneuvers, as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up, but no lasting
damage.”
I nodded. “Excellent. Captain Inatumal, what is the status
of Orgrim’s Hammer and the enemy flagship?”
“The Hammer’s shields are down to 12%, and port
forward maneuvering thrusters are offline. Tango 25 hit them hard as they were
closing, but it appears that their armor was not enough to save them from the Dragonbreath
torpedoes. The Hammer targeted the engines specifically, leaving the
battlecruiser dead in space. Ion weapons were then able to disable major
functions.”
“Very well. Prepare a shuttle. I will be going over to the Hammer
as soon as the ship is secure to help oversee the interrogations of the
corporate officers on board.”
“As you wish, Master.”
(YCSF Dynasty Builder, Tsk’neth System, Free Worlds
Alliance)
First Blade Th’zak Lakan was a lucky Ihm. As a hatchling, he
had been selected for corporate security training instead of going to the mines
to work the resource extraction machines. As a youngling, he had been promoted
to Second Claw, the youngest to achieve that rank in fifty years.
Since then, he had constantly fought to prove his worth, and
rise up through the ranks of the Yathru Corporate Security Service. Eventually,
at the age of twenty, he managed to qualify for the elite Ship Security Division,
the proud males, females, and others that made up the protective detail of
Yathru’s corporate fleet. Their mission was to provide security aboard ship, conduct
boarding operations against vessels, either to seize them as pirates or
searching them for contraband, and as mobile reinforcements to Yathru security
officers based on stations or planets.
The SSD were the elite, and they were equipped like the elite.
They sported the strongest armor out of any corporate force in the Alliance.
Even the Alliance Planetary Defense Forces bought their armor from Yathru. Void,
even the annoying Kul’tirans bought armor from the corporation for their elite
troops.
Their weapons, too, were the best that Yathru had to offer.
Each grunt and officer of the SSD was armed with a Class IV Neural Whip, a Kat’har
Kinetic Energy Carbine, and a J-BAR Combat Knife using a modified Imperial
design to carry a self-sharpening monomolecular edge that would cut through
anything, in time. Officers also carried their Mark 3 Microwave Pain Inducers,
as well, allowing them to incapacitate rebellious ground troops and bring them
to compliance without wasting the resources that the YCSS put into their
training and maintenance.
As First Blade, Th’zak Lakan was the leader of his squad of
twenty security guards. Unlike other Blades, he did not simply choose from his own
race to make up his squad. There was some wisdom to be had in the simplicity
that came with not needing to balance a squad’s needs for different races, but
Th’zak had grown up in the hives of Tsk’neth III. He knew that there was a
strength in having minions with different abilities than he did.
Take Sekil, for instance. The little Gendar was smaller than
the rest of his squad, but because of that the little ratlike alien was the
perfect scout, and was able to slip through areas too small for a hulking ihm
like Th’zak to get through. Having him on the squad meant that they could seek
out and spoil ambushes when attacking pirate ships, or search hidden
compartments too narrow for an ihm to fit inside when examining a smuggler.
Fully half of his squad were non-Ihm. That kind of thinking
made him unusual amongst his other Blades, but his results spoke for
themselves. Because of that, he had been promoted to serve on the company’s
enforcement fleet flagship, the Dynasty Builder, and he brought his
squad with him. One of six blades stationed on the flagship, his squad was the
best trained, and the highest rated, second only to the Admiral’s personal
guard.
Th’zak read the information relayed to him from the bridge
on the HUD in his helmet. Turning to face his squad, who had gathered in the dim
emergency lighting, he said, “All right, troops. I’m not going to lie to you. The
ship is hurt bad. These Black Stars have disabled the Builder, and
according to what information I can get from the ship net, the rest of the
fleet is not going to be coming to our rescue any time soon.
“The enemy vessel is a modified Imperial Marine Transport.
That means it comes with drop ships and boarding pods, enough to send over an
entire company of Imperial Marines in full armor. Fortunately for us, it seems
the creditpinchers in Black Star are as active as ours are, because we are not
dealing with a full set of twelve boarding pods. Instead, we are dealing with
only three, enough for three squads of corporate security officers, to our six
squads!
“The incoming pods are targeting sections 3, 5, and 7. Squad
Two will intercept in section 3. Squad Three will intercept in section 7. Our
squad will take section 5, as it is closest to the bridge. Squads Four, Five,
and Six will cover Engineering, the Bridge, and the main computer core, just in
case any of them slip by us in stealth armor. Our mission is to kill or capture
any Black Stars we can, to use as leverage until reinforcements get here.”
He looked each of them in the faceplate of their opaque
helmets. “We are the elites of the Corporate Security Service! We are the ones
that all the other troops look up to, and wish they were. We are the ones that
get all the prime mates, while they get our seconds and left-overs!” That got a
laugh and a cheer from his troops, as he knew it would.
“Now, some of you are wondering why, if we are guarding
against an attack in this section, we are a corridor away from the hull, instead
of getting ready to meet them. After all, we could be setting up a fire position
as we speak, right? The answer to that is simple. If they are using Imperial boarding
pods, then they will be using a short burn, high intensity laser drill combined
with kinetic impact to force their way through the hull.
“Understand this. Those lasers that cut through a ship’s
hull will still be quite active when they break through. You do NOT want to be
on the other side of the hull when those things cut through. It WILL significantly
reduce your prospects, both in mating and your careers, if you find yourself
rendered into several tiny little pieces.”
Once he was sure that his troops weren’t getting any stupid
ideas about waiting just on the other side of the impact site, ready to spray
kinetic blasts into the breach, Th’zak nodded. He didn’t allow stupid troopers
to remain in his squad, but it was always best to make sure no one was getting
too caught up in the corporate spirit. With a gesture, he sent a ship schematic
to his team’s HUDs, with a blinking light highlighting one area of the ship
near them.
“Now, sensors indicate that our pod will be impacting the
hull here, in crew quarters. The crew are at their stations, so these quarters
are assumed empty. The laser drill has an effective range of one meter, but the
impact and temperature differential will cause shrapnel to spray throughout the
section. room it impacts into, so we want to keep our distance for the initial
strike.
“We will set up two firing positions. Here, and here.” He highlighted
the positions on the schematic. “Uvan, take Teams Two and Four, and set up to
the side. Teams One and Three on me. We will set up on the route to the Bridge.
We will have them in a crossfire, with no cover. Easy shooting. Everyone clear
on your assignments?”
There were no questions, as expected. It was a standard formation,
one they trained for, in case they were under attack. The plans originally were
designed to compensate for X’thari raiders, but they worked fine against other
corporate forces.
Teams One and Three formed up on him as they moved to the
corridor in section 5 that the enemy was expected to break through. With
practiced motions, they set up the movable security barriers. The armored barrier
would stop all ‘ship-safe’ weapons cold, and was even rated effective for some
ballistic weapons. Like everything the SSD had, it was top quality, the best
that any corporate security force had.
He watched on his HUD as Uvan, the avian Vrok, took position
with teams Two and Four. Nice, quick, and professional. Just as he expected of
his men. If this were a drill, they would have all passed with top marks.
His HUD flashed to get his attention. Boarder impact in
three. Two. One. Now. He felt the impact as the ship shook, harder than he was
expecting. The inertial dampeners must be offline, along with the engines,
he thought. To his crew, he sent a simple message. “Be ready.”
The door to the crew berth where the boarding pod struck
flew outward, and the bulkhead visibly dented from some of the shrapnel thrown
about. There was a fraction of a second of air whistling by, before the pod
deployed sealing agents to prevent decompression. Smoke fumed out of the
doorway, as whatever the laser drill ignited burned.
Th’zak focused on the audio feed from his armor. There. That
was the sound of the boarding pod’s hatch opening. He waited half a second, and
then sent to his squad, “FIRE!”
Thwump. Thwump. Thwump.
Kinetic blasts crossed in the air, even as an armored figure
appeared in the shattered doorway.
BANG.
First Blade Th’zak Lakan was a lucky Ihm. As an adult, he
became the first enemy to die to the Black Star Primaris Marines, and their
upgraded weapons.
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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
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354XBook 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
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):
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Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S3S3K8
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