The Dracos ships, Blade of Rhovanion and Vengeance of Kelmarroth advanced upon the tiny E.D. F cruiser, at over four times its size each, the Dracos commanders on both ships figured this was going to be a short battle indeed.
“Ready all weapons and defensive systems, order our escort to do the same.” Senergid, the commander of the Blade of Rhovanion ordered, the flagship of the entire Dracos fleet was not about to be embarrassed by this little upstart pipsqueak.
“Dracos ships continue to close, they’ll be in weapons range in ten seconds,” Logan informed.
“Eldathar, send the ship into a spinning barrel roll on my mark.”
“Sir?”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Err…aye, sir.”
The dark predatory hulls of the alien craft continued to loom ever larger in the display, suddenly a burst of bright flashes erupted from their torpedo batteries.
“We have incoming!” Logan shouted in alarm.
“Eldathar, now!” Michael shouted as he clung onto his seat.
The Liberty corkscrewed toward the alien craft in a whirling blur of black hull and blue light, the crew onboard fought to hang on as artificial gravity systems struggled to keep up with the frenetic rate at which the ship was spinning.
“Multiple torpedoes, fire!” Michael shouted, as he clung onto his seat.
Half a dozen high energy torpedoes shot forth from the spinning Liberties own launchers looking like a circle of bright light, as the warheads streaked toward their targets.
Some collided with the approaching Dracos torpedoes, resulting in gigantic, bright explosions that wreathed large areas of space in flame as the Liberty spun past towards its attackers. The other warheads, raced toward the Dracos ships themselves, arcing toward their targets and smashing home with incredible force, a bright green energy haze formed around the dark crescent shaped hulls of the alien craft. The Liberty itself shot between the two giant alien vessels.
Aboard the Blade of Rhovanion, Dracos warriors and crew alike were flung to the ground, as Senergid clung onto his seat for dear life, showers of sparks burst forth from damaged and overloaded circuitry. He couldn’t believe it, whatever that thing was, it was no ordinary ship, it hit with all the force of a Dracos prowler beast.
“Damage report.”
“Shields at sixty percent, minor damage to port thrusters.”
The tiny Liberty had shot past both ships, and was now heading toward the planet itself.
“Follow that thing!” Senergid shouted to his men.
The Liberty continued onward toward the planet. “Okay, you can level us out now,” Michael said.
Eldathar did so, much to the relief of the crew, who had been clinging for all they were worth to their stations and chairs, many of which now had a healthy dose of motion sickness.
“Enemy ship status?” Michael asked.
Kinraid studied his display, “both ‘ave suffered minor damage, they’re coming around to intercept. ‘Ya sure gave them a right sucker punch there eh!”
“Let’s just hope they don’t give us one in return,” Michael replied. His lips pressed into a thin whisper. He was outnumbered and outgunned, the only advantage he had was the Liberties speed and manoeuvrability, on top of all that, he had to get Nikolai’s troops onto the surface in one piece.
“Head for the planet maximum possible speed,” he said, “shut down the forward graviton emitters, and shunt the remaining power to the rear.” That should help, he thought. Though he had no idea how long the graviton shields would stand up to a pounding from those two ships, he figured he would find out soon enough.
The two Dracos cruisers finished coming about and resumed their chase of the Liberty. “If he thinks he has escaped us, he is sorely mistaken,” Senergid said, almost to himself. “Ready laser lances and dark matter torpedoes, destroy that thing!”
The two craft opened fire on the Liberty now out-pacing them, Eldathar did his best to evade the withering fusillade of fire, torpedoes raced out toward them, multiple violet flashes from deadly laser lances lit up the space the tiny ship was flying through. Though even with the Solarians skilful flying, the weight of fire was just too great; several torpedo and lance hits slammed into the Liberty, causing it to shudder violently under the impacts, several crewmembers were launched from their consoles, and Eldathar was having a tough time keeping the ship under control.
“Graviton shields are taking a hammering!” Logan shouted over the din of explosions and weapons fire.
Another hit slammed into the ship, sending more crewmen flying from their seats.
“Hold your course, Eldathar!” Michael shouted over the din and explosions of battle.
The Solarian strained to keep the bucking ship steady under the intense barrage.
“Shield status!” Michael shouted as another impact threatened to hurl him from his seat.
“Graviton shields at forty percent and weakening, they won’t be able to last much longer before they have to shut down to vent off excess energy,” Logan replied.
Another barrage hammered into the Liberty, sending sparks flying out from a ruptured console, smoke billowed out from fried circuitry.
“Twen’y seconds until we hit the atmosphere!” Kinraid announced.
Just a little bit longer, Michael willed his ship on through clenched teeth, “ready two torpedoes, set them to timed detonation, five seconds each.”
“What for?” Kinraid asked.
“Mines,” Michael replied, “fire!”
Logan pressed the fire control on his tactical console, “torpedoes away.”
Two dumbfire torpedoes were launched lazily from the Liberties launchers, their engines did not ignite, and the ship hurtled straight past them, leaving them directly in the path of the pursuing Dracos ships.
Michael silently began a countdown, three, two, one.
Both torpedoes detonated in a massive explosion, throwing up the familiar green haze around the dark enemy cruisers, and rocking the Liberty itself in its violence.
“Both ships have taken damage to their forward shields, they are backing away, though still pursuing.”
That should give us some breathing space at least, Michael thought as he watched the deep beige of the planet fill the viewer.
“Atmospheric entry in five, four, three, two,” Kinraid counted down as he watched the fast approaching atmosphere on the viewer.
The Liberties hull began to rapidly heat up as the ship entered the upper atmosphere of the planet, it was a familiar sight to Michael. He felt almost like he was reliving the great battle of Gamma IV during the Krenaran war, where his ship crash landed on the planet surface; enemy ships had chased them then too.
A violet energy flash shot past the Liberty and snapped him immediately out of his reverie, the shot coated the ship in a bright purple hue, it was so close. It blasted apart a pocket of methane gas in the planet’s atmosphere, the heat of the laser instantly igniting the dangerously flammable gas in an almighty explosion that ripped through the upper atmosphere, temporarily blinding the bridge crew in its intensity, a gigantic shockwave raced out toward the ship.
Michael strained to see in the brightness, watching in horror as the massive wall of flame surged towards them, unable to do anything except shout.
“Brace for impact!”
The massive shockwave slammed hard into the ship, with all the force of a tidal wave crashing headlong into a beachhead.
Crewmen were thrown completely clear of their stations, landing hard onto the unforgiving deck-plating, conduits ruptured in the intense impact, sparks and glass showered the crew, and fires broke out in a number of areas.
Smoke filled the bridge as Michael slowly picked himself back up amidst the debris of collapsed supports, broken girders and crackling power conduits. A combination of sweat and soot lined his features, he coughed a hacking, dry cough, the smoke had made his voice hoarse.