Chapter 1: Assess the Situation
Warning lights flashed red throughout the ship. Lance marched through the corridor as
crew members ran to their battle stations. Reaching the hangar, the captain approached its
weapons locker and grabbed his usual loadout.
Checking his weapon, he approached their TATlev dropship as the Svikari fighter was
gearing up for deployment. Valdivia stood at the craft’s entrance, her shotgun in hand and a
pistol on her thigh. Lance stopped as he saw the Jarog.
“This isn’t something you’re ready for,” Lance said with a shake of his head.
“I’ve been in fire fights before,” Val countered.
“Against wildlife, robots and pirates; never against a unified military force,” Lance
countered. “This isn’t something you’re ready for.”
“Then I’ll stay behind Dexter,” she argued. “I’m not letting you go in there alone,
especially with Lincoln being involved.”
“I’m not alone. I have my team.”
“A team that’ll do whatever you say without hesitation, even if you’re emotionally
compromised. I’m going with you to make sure you all keep your heads.”
Valdivia turned and climbed into the ship. Lance shook his head and followed. Every
member of Hrafn squad was armed to the teeth and strapped into their seats. The captain moved
to the cockpit and sat in the weapons officer chair. Securing himself, he ran a weapons check.
Everything was green.
“Justin, how long until we stop jump?” Lance asked.
“Thirty seconds,” the pilot replied. “And be ready; the sensors are all over the place. This
is going to be a hot drop.”
“Copy that,” Lance said as he activated the ship’s defenses. “Weapons are green, and hull
is polarized. We are good for drop.”
“Coming out of blink space in three, two, one,” Justin called out over the ship-wide PA
system.
A low THUD reverberated through the ship. In a flash, the hangar doors flew open. Both
the TATlev and Svikari fighter dropped out from under the Gladius. Blinding flares erupted from
the corvette as it broke away from the dropships.
Scott dove and pulled away, passing through the wall of glowing fire. The radar jumped
to life with dozens of red dots. The polarized hull let out several low thumps with inbound fire.
As Lance’s eyes adjusted, swarms of Veles and Reeve fighters engaged human ships.
The captain squeezed the trigger as a ship flew in front of them. A line of metal
accelerated to a percentage of the speed of light tore through the cockpit windscreen. It shattered,
pulling the pilots out and causing the ship to slam into a passing Reeve vessel.
A space station, twice the size of the Manifest Destiny, opened fire in all directions with
its defensive platforms. Scott pulled the ships yoke starboard, threading them between two
fleeing human fighters.
Lance took a deep breath, focusing himself his finger twitched. Several rounds slammed
into the oncoming Veles crafts. As they broke off their pursuit, Lance dropped several mines
while Scott spun. Two red dots vanished from the radar.
“WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?!” Justin shouted as he made a defensive
run over the research station.
“No idea; can anyone confirm if the Reeves and Veles are fighting each other?” Lance
asked.
“They aren’t.” Lincoln spliced into their communications. “They attacked as a joint
force.”
Scott closed the ship’s windscreen armor, activating external cameras. Missile lock sirens
sounded within the craft.
“You’ve got three inbound!” the Svikari fighter shouted.
“Try spinning; that’s a good trick!” Lance ordered.
Without missing a beat, Scott entered a barrel roll before descending into an aileron roll.
After a few seconds, the missile lock sirens cut off.
“Your six is clear!” the other fighter replied.
“You aren’t moving in to defend!” Scott replied.
The TATlev banked to port and slammed on the brakes. Their Svikari fighter shot past
them with four enemy fighters on their tail. Scott hit the gas again and turned the ship to get
behind the three Reeve and one Veles craft.
Lance opened fire. Blue light flashed in an oval around the Reeve ships while sparks flew
from the Veles craft. The impact sent the enemy human craft out of position where an allied
fighter collided with it. The Reeve shielding shattered on two of the others just as excess debris
slammed into one, forcing it to spin out and slam into the space station.
With another burst, Lance took out the other unshielded ship. As the last craft attempted
to break off, the Gladius slammed into it, causing both the shield and the last bogy to explode.
The captain took a deep breath as his stomach jumped into his throat.
Scott yanked back on the yoke. Their ship revved as its nose pulled up, narrowly
maneuvering around the corvette. Diving around the back side of the ship, the pilot pulled up and
hugged the bottom of the space station.
“What are you doing!?” Lance shouted to Justin.
“Killing everything I can!” the pilot countered.
“We’re losing our defensive fighters,” Lincoln called out. “We don’t have reinforcements
close enough to assist.”
“Copy that!” Lance shouted as he shot at a few more fighters that attempted to swarm
them. “How thick is that station’s armor?”
“Strong enough to tank a direct asteroid hit,” Lincoln replied. “What are you thinking?”
“Get everyone to the inner portions of the ship and tell everyone to retreat,” Lance
ordered.
“We can take them!” Justin called out.
“You may be able to, but I’m getting beat up out here!” the Svikari fighter pilot called
out.
“He’s right, Justin, fall back!” Lance ordered. “If you can get anyone in the Gladius, pick
them up!”
“You want to tell me what you’re thinking?” Scott asked as he weaved between several
other fighters.
“It’s a little trick I used at the slingshot during the first contact war,” Lance replied.
Silence fell over all radios.
“Whosa whatnow?” Stephanie shouted from the back.
“You’re not being serious, are you?” Justin’s voice crackled over the radio.
“YEEEHAWWW, WE GUNNA NUKE SOME BADGUYS!!!” Dexter screamed from
the hold.
“BROKEN ARROW!” Lincoln screamed over the radio. “WE HAVE ABROKEN
ARROW!”
Instantly, what remained of the stations defensive forces turned tail and gunned it away
from the main ship. Several enemy fighters started to follow them. Justin plowed through several
other ships. The Gladius’ thick hull obliterated the smaller ships with barely a scratch.
Scott flew the opposite direction. A few red dots followed. Lance dropped half of the
mines, making the blips vanish. The pilot whipped around to see the station dozens of miles
away. The glint of the swarm of enemy crafts opening fire on the research station reminded the
captain of a swarm of fireflies.
Lance quickly calculated the explosive yield of his shot. Locking onto a piece of debris
floating a few hundred yards away from the station, the captain squeezed the trigger. A small,
glowing white dot flew out of the front of the ship.
Silence filled the battlefield as the little piece of antimatter fluttered through the darkness
of space. Lance held his breath as he leaned forward in his seat. A small blip of light pinged right
where he was aiming before vanishing.
A split second later, an explosion of white light erupted violently in every direction. The
wave incinerated every ship caught in its wave. Even with the video compensators dimming the
light, Lance still squinted as the orb dissipated into tails of plasma.
The accompanying EMP caused the radar to flicker for several seconds. The radio
channels died, turning to static while the lights flickered. Quiet settled over the field of battle
once more as the captain leaned forward.
“Clear ‘em out,” he ordered.
Scott accelerated toward the debris field. Dexter erupted in an ear-piercing cheer. The
light glinted off the enemy ships that were still intact and drifting in space.
“No one escapes,” Lance ordered as he sent several bursts toward the stunned ships.
“Destroy the Reeves, disable the Veles. I want answers!”
“I hate that you do that!” Justin shouted as the Gladius re-engaged as well.
Those that were far enough away to survive the blast were blinded from the explosion,
judging by their erratic flight patterns. Lance took out as many engines as he could while using
the rest of his mines to blow up Reeve fighters before they could come back online.
Fewer enemy ships survived than Lance anticipated, causing their cleanup to take less
time than anticipated. By the time they were done, the radio channels flickered back to life.
Lance connected with his brother’s frequency.
“We’re all cleared up out here!” Lance shouted.
“La-de-freaking da!” Lincoln countered. “They’re still overrunning the inside of this
ship. Not sure how much longer we can hold out!”
“Where are the hangars?” Lance asked.
“Can’t; they’re booby-trapped. Anything in or out, and they detonate!” Lincoln replied.
“What about airlocks?”
“Jammed.”
“How about emergency maintenance hatches?” Stephanie shouted from the back.
“Yeah, what about emergency maintenance hatches?” Lance echoed.
“We’ve got one of those. Sending you the coordinates. There’ll only be enough space for
one ship, though,” Lincoln warned.
“Don’t worry,” Lance replied. “We’ve got Hrafn squad in one ship.”
“Then bring the power of Odin. They’re cutting through every door. I’m locking on
them.”
A blue dot pinged on the outer hull of the space station. Lance transferred the weapon
controls to Scott and unbuckled himself.
“Once the maintenance hatch is sealed, break away and get us much distance between us
as possible,” Lance ordered. “There could be another wave inbound and we’ll need this ship’s
guns.”
“We don’t have enough fuel to do another one of those antimatter shots,” Scott warned.
“That’s not a bad thing,” Lance replied as he moved into the hold.
Lance moved to a control panel as he summoned his suit’s helmet. He swiped at it and
summoned the Hrafn JJ systems. The floor slid open and up rose the exoskeletons, all colored to
match the squad’s armor, with one being a dark pink.
Valdivia was the first to unstrap and step into her exoskeleton. It clipped into her armor
seamlessly. Dexter was quick to follow, as was Stephanie. Mattias backed into it at the same
time Lance did. It clipped into place and ran a diagnostic as both suit and jump jet system synced
to one another.
“Showing all green on melding,” Valdivia called out.
“I’m green too,” said Mattias.
“Likewise,” Dex added.
“Same,” Stephanie chimed in.
“Good. Scott, how close are we to touchdown?” Lance asked.
“Ten meters!” the pilot called back.
“Good. Justin, anything on long range scanners?”
“They’re still coming back online; nothing on medium range, though,” Justin replied.
“We'll keep you posted if anything funky starts to go down!”
“Good and send out an SOS to both SOAT and human expeditionary forces, see if there’s
anyone close enough to get us out of here,” Lance ordered.
“Already working on it,” Justin replied.
“Copy that,” Lance said as the ship shuttered.
The captain walked past his squad. Kneeling, he pulled up a floor panel to reveal the
emergency airlock. A red light flashed next to the door for several seconds. Several low-pitched
whines emanated from the circular door. After several low CHUNKs, the light turned green.
Lance grabbed the airlock door and pulled on it. It opened into the ship. The inner door
remained shut as an external atmospheric gauge measured the TATlev’s internal pressure. It
dinged, causing the inner door to unlock.
Pressing on the gauge caused the airlock to hiss and slide open. A tube, fifteen feet long,
stretched out below them. It opened near the bottom into another airlock room. Lance stood up,
readied his rifle and looked at his team.
“We don’t know who knows what, if you can spare someone do it,” Lance said. “Even if
though it may be against my better judgment, we need to figure out who’s able to make the
Reeves and Veles work together.”
“Can we destroy all the robots at least?” Dexter asked.
Lance cracked a smile.
“Yipee-ki yaya,” he muttered before jumping down the hole. ...
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