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Zeus
The reverse engines began to slow down the UEAF flagship as soon as Earth was visible again- spaceships, especially the larger ones, had to spend considerable time killing their forward movement, so whatever they were approaching could see them well before they arrived. Admiral Lee wished it worked as effectively as it did in science-fiction novels, where vessels could jump out of ‘hyperspace' and right on top of their enemy in the blink of an eye.
Of course, hyperspace wasn't commonplace either. The only craft capable of light-speed was the Santa Maria, which had left for the alien world of Aiua long ago.
"Admiral, communications are back up."
Lee turned to the man, who was clearly as surprised as he was. "Can we contact the base yet?"
"I'm trying sir..."
Lee pressed a button on his chair and spoke into the headset. "Mr. Rao, how long till we make visual?"
The Indian man's voice came back over the line. "Two minutes."
The moon was already in full view, but the base wasn't. They could see flashes of light from afar though- whatever had happened in their absence, it wasn't good.
"I'm getting several distress signals from smaller ships, but nothing from the base. Should I try Carden Aiua?"
Before the Admiral could respond, the man said, "We're being hailed by an unknown source. I'll put it through."
Even as the words left his mouth, the blackened, city-sized crater where Carden Aiua had once been came into view; and little by little, so did the bombed remains of the lunar base.
"We're too late..."
The black of space was alight with explosions all around the damaged mothership. The B'tale capital ships, having destroyed the surface of the lunar base, were chasing Carden Aiua now.
Eiyen'hark knew they'd make it- her ship's defenses were formidable, and had already taken out a sizeable portion of the enemy fleet. They'd be able to make their escape within minutes.
But then a new problem cropped up.
"Eiyen'hark, another fleet is moving towards the base- it's the UEAF!"
The Hark cursed out loud and turned the on the comm. As soon as she did so, to her dismay, a familiar voice reverberated from the speaker.
The communications officer finally patched the unknown source through to the command room. A heavily accented, emotionless voice boomed through the spherical chamber's loudspeaker.
"I am Jeshun'n'tale."
His ears still ringing from the bass, Lee spoke. "This is Admiral Lee, Commander of the United Earth Air Force."
"Irrelevant." The response came in the same, emotionless tone.
"Your fleet is outnumbered- I am ordering you to-"
"Pathetic man. Today you have met the true God's instrument- so you will fall under his judgment."
Lee didn't get a chance to respond- the transmission had already ended. Quickly, he switched to another one.
"All ships, deploy your fighters! Prepare to engage the B'tale fleet!"
"Admiral, we have an incoming transmission from Carden Aiua."
Immediately, Eiyen'hark was yelling over the comm.
"Admiral Lee, get out of here now!"
"Carden Aiua, where are you? We need assistance- where are your fighters? They should have gotten here already!"
"They've returned to their hangars; we're jumping out! Now I repeat, get out of here! We'll meet you at the other side of the planet."
The signal went dead
"Admiral, we have multiple signals showing up on radar!"
"What? Where?"
"Everywhere!"
Twelve Chakra fighters; little more in appearance than half-saucers with two spherical engines on the sides, blasted their way out of the capital ship Stare's hangar. The force of the main thruster, mounted right behind the cockpit, pushed Marshall Taylor back in his seat. It was something that he appreciated about the Indian prototype fighter; he could feel the raw power every single time.
Only Air Force veterans were allowed to pilot the strange craft. Flying in space was very different from flying in atmosphere as it was- the Jackal fighters, although capable of space flight, still had mechanics similar to old planes, and weren't as maneuverable as they were fast. The Chakras, on the other hand, were designed only for use in vacuum, and were particularly difficult to get the hang of.
Marshall had been in one Air Force or another for almost eighteen years; he was more than capable of handling even this experimental machine.
Hammer One, Abel Helenov, was on as soon as everyone was in formation. "Alright people, we and Halo squadron are going after one of the B'tale capital ships. This one's pretty beat up, so it shouldn't be much trouble- but keep your eyes open for surprises. Target data transmitting now."
It amused Marshall that after ten years there were still some, even established military men like Helenov, who pronounced the enemy name as ‘Buh-tail'. Despite various sources trying their best to affirm that it was indeed ‘Buh-tah-lay', some people just never learned.
His H.U.D. placed a red triangle on one of the capital ships in the battered B'tale fleet- it still had all its guns trained on Carden Aiua, and was getting equal treatment in return. It would be an easy target.
The plasma-propelled engines at the sides of his fighter turned, and Helenov's Chakra veered off towards the enemy fleet. "Attack in groups of four. Halo will be going after the weapons- we'll keep shooting at the holes in the hull till it bleeds to death. Clear?"
"Aye!" Marshall said, along with the rest of the squadron. The first time someone had said that, it annoyed the hell out of Abel; as a result, everyone started doing it.
A blinding flash of light erupted from the rear end of Carden Aiua, getting through even the tinting in the windshield and causing Marshall to yell out and cover his eyes. Slowly moving his arm out of the way, he managed to look ahead to see the mothership moving away at full speed- the blast from its antimatter engine had wiped out another enemy fleet group in the meanwhile.
Helenov came back on the comm. "Hammer squadron, our target just vaporized. Stand by for reassignment. Holy shit!"
A quick glance at his sensors showed Marshall what had startled his commander.
"All fighters, loose formation now! Proximity alerts evvvv..wha-"
The comm. died. "Abel? Anyone?"
And then the shooting started.
"All ships, move into sphere formation! Focus your guns on incoming frigates!"
Lee wasn't getting any response- his fear deepened when he saw the communications officer's fingers dancing frantically over his console.
"Admiral, the comm. is down again!"
The running count of red tags showing up on-screen was starting to run into the hundreds; the enemy hadn't even launched their fighters yet.
It looked like his last transmission had gotten through at least- the Fortress capital ships in his group were starting to move into position around the Zeus, all of them facing outward.
The first shots from the enemy fleet were aimed at the marooned fighter squadrons though. Lee watched as the precise formations, peppered by machinegun fire, started to fall into disarray. They had no way of coordinating.
"Mr. Holkins, set hull pattern orange!"
"Admiral, what about the other fleet groups?"
What about them indeed...his own group was forming up fine, but most of the other UEAF ships were still reorienting to face their immediate threats. From what Lee could make out, they were already taking hits.
A new set of alarms started to go off. "Damnit, what now?"
"Oh my god!"
Nyrr Unya
The Hark of Carden Aiua was smaller than Jeshun'n'tale by far. As intimidating as she appeared to her subordinates, she was nothing more than a slave when compared to the one she speaking with now. Even Eiyen'hark knew this- Jeshun could sense it in her voice.
"The B'tale I know upholds and respects all; that is my religion! Not what your master says!"
The strength and defiance of the Hark was downsized with every sentence that Jeshun spoke. "To defy Yuran'n'tale is to defy god! Do you cast aside your god based on your false notions?"
"I..."
Jeshun knew that Eiyen'hark wouldn't be able to win this argument. She wasn't strong enough.
Just as Nyrr Unya was coming into visual range of Carden Aiua, the mothership routed full power to the engines and left the battlefield. Sure enough, the Hark hadn't responded to Jeshun's rhetorical question.
They'd meet again; for now, she was satisfied.
"Jeshun'n'tale, we've traced the enemy fleet's signal source."
She looked at the rectangular ship on the screen; the other vessels in its group were still forming a protective shell around it, and its fighters were scrambling to avoid taking hits. For now, it was wide open.
Jeshun only nodded at the subordinate who'd spoken to her.
Twisting his stick to the right, he sent his craft into a spin, narrowly escaping a volley that shattered the cockpit of another Jackal right ahead of him. Had the comm. been operational, he might have been able to warn the other pilot; but in this case, there was no choice.
Cursing, he pulled the fighter up, bringing the Zeus and its Fortress group into view. He spared a glance at the guarded flagship, tracing his eyes along the lights on its uneven hull.
"Hammer group, light pattern orange- form up around the frigates!" He yelled this out of instinct of course; no one could hear him.
It looked like a few others had seen the signal from the Zeus, but most of them were still behind. Marshall craned his neck, turning around just enough to look at the chaos in front of the moon.
He squinted, noticing more lights coming up from behind the gray body. Great, he thought. There were already enough ships in the area to...
Marshall could make out a gleaming, silver hull as whatever was approaching came out of the moon's shadow and into the sunlight. As the star's rays outshone the lights he'd seen initially, it became clear that it wasn't another fleet heading their way.
"Sweet Jesus..."
Nyrr Unya.
Zeus
There were nine clusters of red tags, each one on a different part of the spherical display. All of them were closing on the UEAF fleet, and fast.
And then the tenth tag, by itself larger than any single one of the clusters, appeared from behind the moon. The gargantuan B'tale war vessel that dwarfed even the mothership that showed up in Earth's skies, ten long years ago.
All were silent in the command room. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the rapidly growing image of Nyrr Unya.
All nine clusters suddenly expanded to several times their size as their fighters launched. New contacts appeared around Nyrr Unya itself as it did the same; they moved outward in four steady streams- four fingers of the Hand of God.
"Admiral! We have thirty- no, fifty-"
The alarms were already going off again, filling the room with red light.
"Activate countermeasures!"
"Good god!" He spun the fighter around, breaking his course for the flagship. The force of the turn slammed him back in his seat, and then he was speeding back into the path of gunfire, from where the other UEAF squadrons were still scattering.
Behind him, the capital ships were starting to shift, trying in vain to get out of their tight formation. At the same time, several smaller rockets launched from all of them and streaked off towards the incoming missiles.
The first missiles made contact with the countermeasures, setting off a chain of massive, short lived explosions. The screen was filled with dozens of soundless blasts at a time, but too many missiles were still getting through.
"Admiral, first wave of countermeasures depleted. Launching second wave, now!"
A few of the missiles made contact with the Fortresses surrounding the Zeus, hitting some with enough force to knock them clear out of formation. Lee winced as one of them even collided with another, sending a spray of debris in all directions.
The next set of countermeasures went off, but they clearly weren't going to be enough.
"All countermeasures depleted!"
The Zeus shook as the missiles started hitting ships closer by. All around him, his group was being blown to pieces under the merciless bombardment.
"Mr. Rao, full reverse engines!"
"There's no room to maneuver- we'll hit someone else!"
A large section of the spherical screen grayed out, and the ship rocked violently. They were starting to take hits.
"I said get us out of here!"
The next set of hits sent Lee tumbling out of his chair, as well as several of the officers. More of the screen had grayed out- they couldn't see anything in front of them now.
When his vision returned to normal, he glanced at his rear-view mirror to see the volley of dumb-fired missiles smashing their way through Admiral Lee's Fortress group. At this point, the many explosions were only flinging a massive debris field apart though- all the ships, the Zeus included, were gone.
The lights in the distance stopped flashing, and Marshall realized the B'tale fleet had ceased shooting.
"Oh boy..."
There was a click in his headset- the comm. was back again.
Before anyone could say anything, a very deep, menacing voice filled all the channels.
Those were the only words said by the Aiuan commander. The chilling voice didn't leave Marshall's mind for a long time afterwards.
A green button started flashing on his control panel. Quickly, he pressed it- a recorded message downloaded and played just before the comm. went down for the last time.
Marshall heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing Abel's voice. "All squadrons, dumb-fire your EMPs' at those incoming squadrons and then head for the other side of the planet! We can't do any more here!"
His sensor screen was almost completely red from the number of enemy contacts now. What was actually a massive group of fighters heading their way looked almost like a solid wall of steel- they could hardly see the B'tale capital ships that had launched them.
Marshall twisted his stick so that he was flying sideways and then pressed two buttons. Not really aiming, he pulled the trigger, sending four rockets streaking away from his Chakra; they joined dozens of others and flew off towards the B'tale fighters.
Immediately, he swung the craft around and pushed his throttle, hurtling away from the incoming armada. He looked in his mirror just in time to see the first missiles go off. There were no grand explosions- only the invisible, short-lived electromagnetic fields generated by the warheads. Just how many enemy fighters they were knocking out was impossible to tell though- there were too many coming up from behind to enumerate how many had been put out of action.
He managed to refocus his attention on flying and continued to increase his speed. Several from his own group were already pulling up alongside or flying ahead; as far as he could tell, there were nine Chakras nearby. Hammer wasn't out just yet.
Savior
The capital ship Savior was at the center of one of the only Fortress groups not to be hit yet. That would all change soon- one of the B'tale fleet clusters was engaging Admiral Kruger's group, but was doing away with it fast. Admiral Kabir's Savior was the next closest target.
Kabir wasn't going to waste nineteen good Fortress ships in a vain effort to hold off the B'tale ambush. They had to live to fight another day.
"Set hull pattern purple! Mr. Carman, move us out of formation and get the ship away from Luna!" He switched the channel so he could talk to the entire ship. "All guns, focus fire on that mass of B'tale fighters; we need to give the Zeus's squadrons time to make their escape! Do not fire at the capital ship cluster unless fired upon first!"
They were going to have enough trouble keeping attention from themselves as it was. The longer they could keep the cluster from noticing them, the better.
The other ships in his group had taken heed of the hull pattern; they were starting to fall out of formation and were reorienting for their escape.
Swerving to the side, he pulled away from the bulk of Halo squadron, hoping to draw some fire away from the less maneuverable Jackals. He was swinging frantically, avoiding his share of shots, but with that many B'tale craft shooting at them, it wasn't doing any good. The only thing preventing the Jackals from being wiped out was their speed- indeed, they were making narrow escapes thanks to that property.
The B'tale were on top of them now; Marshall could actually see the flashes from their guns in his side screens. He increased speed again, but the dodging he was being made to do was starting to work on his nerves. Now he had to keep from ramming into his own squadmates.
The side of the saucer-shaped front end of his Chakra took a hit. While nothing critical was damaged, it sent the fighter into a violent spin.
"Jesus!" He wrestled with his stick, trying to take the fighter back on course, but with little success. A proximity alert started to go off in the meanwhile- two Crab fighters were trailing him.
Their shots slowly trained towards his helpless craft, which was only avoiding them thanks to the mad spiral it was in. "Move, damn you!" His engines were pumping plasma furiously, fighting the inertia and trying to stabilize the craft, but as he approached the line between control and random movement, he was making himself an easier target. Two more shots made contact with the front, one ricocheting off and then other punching a hole in it. The whole purpose of the saucer shape was to draw fire away from the vital components; essentially providing a bigger, less critical target. The tradeoff of course, was that it gave the enemy more opportunities to send the pilot off course.
He finally managed to level off, but his direction of movement was the same; he was just facing the opposite direction.
He jinked slightly, bringing one of the Crabs into his sights. He fired off a missile at it, but the other pilot tilted slightly, and the explosive flew past it. The return fire bounced off Marshall's windshield.
He was taking more and more hits now; this was it.
Again, the thought came too soon. All of a sudden, gunshots were pouring in from the top-right, and one of the Crabs exploded. The other one swerved and went into a spin, but Marshall took the opportunity and trained his own guns on it, shooting through to the engines and blowing it apart.
He glanced up at the source of the shots that had saved him, and almost laughed in relief. One of the Fortress groups, completely intact, was flying above them at full speed. They were loosing everything they had into the attacking B'tale fighters.
Marshall's relief was short lived though. As he swung around and increased speed again, he counted the visible Chakra fighters. His own included, there were three left. Abel Helenov's yellow-striped craft was nowhere to be seen.
"Admiral, the B'tale fighters are falling back!"
Kabir let out a long breath and fell back in his seat. The fleet cluster was trying to catch up with them, but they were too far out of range. The Savior and its group would be on the other side of Earth, and hopefully with Carden Aiua, well before they were in the enemy's sights.
It wasn't a victory though; everyone knew it. They'd seen the bulk of the UEAF fleet cut down with their own eyes. Even when the lucky few who escaped were able to regroup, they'd be in far fewer numbers than were needed to engage the B'tale fleet again.
The war had begun, and Jeshun'n'tale had the upper hand.
The tiny fighters disappeared around the planet, using its gravity to slingshot their way to the other side. The Savior would be there soon enough as well.
