From the rest of the Empire’s formation, the remaining battleships provided suppressing fire with their own lasers and particle cannons. Their weapons were much less effective, but still powerful enough to damage and destroy the Sowir ships.
In a matter of minutes the Sowir battleship group was devastated, most of their ships destroyed and those that managed to escape damaged and limping. The four Vanguard ships moved to join the three ships that were about to engage the Sowir new ships.
The Sowir dreadnoughts were the first to open fire. Their lasers and particle cannon were more powerful than those of their smaller ships, but still they were not enough to damage the Vanguard ships. Tiamat and Titan targeted the closest enemy ships and fired with all of their forward weaponry. Dozens of particle cannons and lasers exploded out of the advancing ship striking at the Sowir dreadnoughts, punching holes and scorching their hulls. The dreadnoughts managed to survive the fire longer than the other Sowir ships, but in the end they too succumbed. The Sowir ships started amassing damage at a faster rate as the Retribution added its own fire, followed by the twenty battleships following behind it.
The Empire’s group moved even closer, to allow Retribution to use its most powerful turrets. As soon as Retribution entered in the range of its main weapon it opened fire. It fired dozens of 900mm shells, followed by an increased rate of fire with its smaller caliber rail guns. Every ship that got hit by the massive shell crumbled as its hull was blown inward. The Sowir dreadnoughts started exploding at an increased rate. And then they opened fire.
Sowir ships weapons swiveled, targeted the Vanguard ships and fired their own kinetic weapons. Hundreds of metal slugs started impacting the Vanguard ships, ignoring their field defenses. The shells were smaller and slower than their Empire counterparts, but they still started inflicting damage on the three massive ships reducing their field integrity that in turn allowed Sowir other weapons to inflict damage. The twenty battleships following behind also came upon the fire, as the Vanguard ships were too occupied to screen them. The Sowir dreadnoughts destroyed them in minutes. They were still losing ships to the Vanguard ships, but they were now inflicting damage to the previously invulnerable ships.
Sixty remaining Sowir dreadnoughts kept the pressure on the Vanguard ships, when suddenly two of their ships were blown to bits from their rear. The stealth ship Specter had arrived firing its limited weapons with deadly accuracy. Its firing had exposed its position, but using the gravity drives it quickly moved to another position. The distraction and confusion among the Sowir allowed the three ships a moment of respite.
The three ships regrouped, recovered from the shock of the Sowir counterattack and then executed a counter attack of their own. Just as they resumed their attack, their reinforcements arrived. Valhalla, Invictus, Twilight, and Harbinger opened fire from the Sowir flank.
Adrian watched as his ships took care of the last of the Sowir dreadnoughts. He had almost lost the Retribution to the Sowir fire. They had tricked him, in the same way that he had tricked them thirty years ago. But it didn’t matter, the battle was still going as his remaining one hundred and tree battleships took care of the remaining Sowir battle groups. But the victor was decided, his fleet had won.
As soon as he let himself relax the pain broke through his blocks and flooded him. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t see, the image of space disappeared. Frantically he tried to remember the mental command to shut down the Watchtower, but he couldn’t form the thoughts.
He heard a voice speaking from the distance. “Adrian! What is wrong? I am can’t make a connection with yo—” The voice cut off as Adrian managed to remember the command.
Suddenly he opened his eyes to see Sora with her front paws on his knees. Seeing his eyes open, she grabbed Adrian’s coat with her teeth and dragged him to the floor. His head hit the cold metal and turned to the side. He didn’t see Akash anywhere. He noticed that the doors of the room were smashed outward, but his mind couldn’t process what that meant. Sora was standing above him and he could feel her using her empathic powers on him. He felt her loyalty and love. And that helped a bit, as his body turned on him.
He felt as if every nerve in his body was on fire. His eyes hurt so much that his vision was fading to nothingness and then back. His mind was filling up with nonsense, voices speaking so loudly that he couldn’t even understand them. He tried to move and immediately regretted it. A shock of pain ran through his entire body and then he felt an unbearable pressure starting to build in his head. He felt as if his head was going to explode. Slowly he felt his consciousness slip away from him, just as Akash appeared from the broken doors followed by people in white coats.
Invictus – Command Center
Isani saw his c-board disengage from the Watchtower and knew that Adrian was no longer in the interface. He quickly took control of the fleet, hoping that his friend was alright. He had ninety three battleships and ten Vanguard ships remaining. Most of his battleships were damaged, but the remaining Sowir ships were in worse condition. The remaining eighty nine Sowir ships were running for the hyperspace barrier.
Isani sent out orders for the fleet to chase and destroy the remaining ships.
Chapter Twenty Three
Six days after the battle for Nelus – Sowir border system Rasaka
Nair Hakeem Fleet Commander of the Third Fleet watched as his ships destroyed the last of the Sowir defense platforms in the orbit of a small moon. The Sowir had no presence on any of the planets in this system, they used it only as a supply point for their patrols of the border. But still they had seven platforms protecting the supply depot.
The third fleet arrived in the system two days after the event in Nelus system and the Sowir were forewarned that they were in the state of war with the Empire. As his ships entered the system he broadcasted the call for their surrender on a loop, but the Sowir never responded.
His ships had already dealt with the token defending force of thirty heavy cruisers, and with the destruction of the defense platforms they were now free to assault the depot. He sent word to the army ships that they were clear to assault the small station.
Squad Leader Zhu “Pyro” Zhang Wei sat in the Empire assault ship as it drew closer to the Sowir station. His six teammates were sitting strapped in around him. The first part of their mission was to take control of the station. They had the information from Nel databases on Sowir tech and even a few of the old devices from Consortium that should be compatible. But the truth was that they weren’t sure if it would work, a lot of Sowir tech was based on that of the Consortium, but they had also kept a lot things to themselves.
The second part of their mission was to find and take prisoner the Sowir, those who moved in the shadows. They knew that there must be some on the station, the agents they were using might be able to give an illusion of being intelligent but they can’t function without input from the Sowir.
Zhu felt the assault ship come to a stop and attach itself to the station’s hatch. The assault ship had an adaptable docking mechanism, and it was designed to be able to dock with both the Consortium and Empire’s hatches, and luckily the Sowir hadn’t changed theirs. A few moments later the light turned yellow, and Zhu’s comms sprang to life.
“Alright people, that’s your get ready signal. We are reading a lot of activity from inside the station, expect heavy resistance. And your squad is the first in position, good luck.” The voice of Company Leader Dayo Okoro said. Company Leader was on the army ship safely away from the station, guiding the other Platoons and their squads.