Opening Moves (29 page)

Corr'tane nodded slowly, still processing the new information. “Yes, keep me informed of any developments.” With a tap he shut down the connection and exhaled, closing his eyes tightly shut. His family were survivors, and both his sister and he himself had overcome many obstacles as they grew up and entered adulthood. But that didn't change the fact that one by one everyone he knew had died and their passing had ripped a piece of him away. If Pyshana also died he was not convinced that there would be anything left of him anymore. It scared him more than death itself.

He straightened his uniform for a ninth time and began pacing.

Senfina Colony

The Érenni Republics, Pact of Ten Suns

The sky was still filled with crisscrossing beams and wheeling fighters. For what it was worth,  the Érenni fought well but were getting cut down in droves by the Ashani. Their defiance barely made a difference. Republican warships were falling back, using themselves as a physical barrier between the main Dominion formations and the rapidly forming civilian flotilla. A few panicked freighters had tried to run early and had provided some sport for marauding Swiftpaw squadrons. Wisely the rest had decided to make their move in unison, hoping numbers would buy them time and safety.

“
Alexej,” Tarek stated in a matter of fact tone. “You know they're going to leave without us.”

The IRON MAIDEN still suffered from its earlier efforts. To keep her from blowing apart the ship's engines were laboring at barely half power. Alexej was gradually feeding more energy into them, but too much too soon could result in a serious overload and that would leave them powerless and at the mercy of the Ashani – and mercy wasn't exactly a trait the cats were known for. Warships now engaged each other as the battle reached its final stage, something the IRON MAIDEN crew didn't really need to stick around for. Nobody was eager to watch that kind of one-side butchery.

“Just what we needed,” Rául said ominously. “We've got movement over the poles.”

“
What sort of movement?” Tarek asked sharply, his eyes darting to the bridge's central plot.

“
Sensors show a Dominion squadron. Heavy warships, nothing smaller than a cruiser, boss. They're sneaking around behind the remaining Érenni forces.”

“
Have the Érenni seen them?” Tarek wondered. The remaining Republican ships had formed a half-orb with their back against the planet. The sudden appearance of warships coming in low to crash into their open flanks would end any resistance instantly.

“
Yeah, they've sent ships to engage, but they're too few. Against what's coming they won't last long.”

“
We've got a few minutes before this battle turns into a complete rout. This is already the rearguard action, folks,” Llyr advised with a rumble. “We need to push the engines.”

“
I don't think they can take it,” the tall Eurasian pilot cautioned. “We don't want a burn out.”

“
Do it anyway,” Tarek commanded. “being cautious and getting caught up in the sights of a dreadnought won't keep us alive either. Just keep an eye on them, 'kay?”

Without further discussion the pilot opened the throttles, instantly sending every gauge into the red. He adjusted the flow and managed to bring the readings down a little, but growing vibrations shook the vessel as it accelerated, clattering items in the lockers and unnerving the two thousand refugees in the cargo bay.

“Convoy is on the move,” Annie in a voice far too calm for the occasion. “And we're still a few minutes out.”

The MAIDEN wasn't the only one dawdling around. There were still dozens of ships in orbit, either oblivious to what was happening around them or too caught up in the moment to react properly. The Republican escorts directing the convoy had decided they couldn't hold on any longer and had started their engines, passing through a path in the minefield and into open space. As they began to move the broken remnants of the Érenni fleet began to fall back, a steady reverse which seemed to encourage the Ashani to fight with even greater vigor. Sensing victory they flung themselves into battle once more, the battered ships of both sides struggling with one another to the death.

The Dominion's flanking force burned through their opponents with ease, even faster than they had feared, and began deploying into a wall behind the Érenni cruisers, but surprisingly did not engage. Instead they began to spread out, virtually ignoring the battle going on around them.

“
Those ships,” Rául noted with alarm. “If they keep spreading out they're going to cut us off!”

“
Alexej?” Tarek raised an eyebrow and nodded at the throttle.

“
They're already red-lined, boss. I can't get anything more from them without us exploding. Which would be, well, kinda bad.”

A few squadrons of Érenni fighters suddenly streaked past the freighter, almost close enough to reach out and touch.

“Let's hope they can keep them busy.” Tarek sighed, not convinced the fighters would succeed. They showed much courage but were ultimately unskilled. You rarely got second chances in a high tech battlefield like this, and the Ashani were teaching them a very harsh lesson in warfare.

* * * * * * *

“Captain Farwalker has deployed her ships, Ma'am.”

Pyshana acknowledged the information. Amongst the long list of destroyed ship names and the combat status of 8
th
Fleet Farwalker's report was the one she had most anticipated. It was her group that would deliver the final victory.

“
Where are the Érenni?”

“
Still focusing on our attack, Ma'am,” her XO stated. “They are deployed in our path. Only token forces are engaging Captain Farwalker's forces.”

“
That'll change when she opens fire. I suppose they might direct ships from their lines to engage her. If that happens we will hit whichever location they weaken.”

“
Aye, Ma'am.”

“
Give Farwalker the word, commence attack.”

The second force of Ashani ships which had outflanked the Érenni came about, pointing their noses to the planet. With deliberate actions Captain Farwalker sent targeting data to her remaining missile ships and ordered a planetary saturation strike. Missiles began to launch from the
Stormwave
-class vessels, a steady pouring of slow moving warheads that entered the atmosphere and arced downwards at ballistic speeds.

The Érenni almost ignored the weapons. Too much of their defenses were already engaging the ships above. The planetary lasers and anti-missile silos simply had reached the peak of their capacity, and detecting no fusion warheads amongst the volley, local defense computers gave the inbound missiles low priorities. It was a hard choice to ignore the attack fully knowing thousands would likely die, but many more would perish if the main enemy fleet broke through, and there was still a sense within the defenders that they might just grab victory from the jaws of defeat. The missiles went unchallenged save by a few surface based batteries, and they detonated at their predetermined release points.

Their payload was an innocuous liquid rendered aerosol by the weapons, scattered through clouds and hanging like mist in the bright blue sky before slowly descending. It took a few minutes to register and understand what was happening, and by then it was far too late to do anything. A second volley of missiles was fired, carrying their biological warheads to another location in the planet's atmosphere, a carefully calculated pattern to cover the whole globe with maximum efficiency. It was the science of planetary genocide. Then more 'conventional' missiles streaked down, bathing cities in lethal doses of neutrons, overpowering ground defenses as low-yield fusion bombs buried themselves into military installations.

The Érenni immediately sent ships to engage the relatively weakly armed missile ships, but in the instant those Republican cruisers retreated the Dominion's main force hit the lines even harder, throwing in everything they had, right down to ramming Érenni ships to create holes in the defensive line. They were caught between two impossible choices: abandon their defense or abandon their people to bombardment, and like a house of cards discipline fell apart. Some commanders held position and fired on Pyshana's forces, others turned to engage the missile ships. With the loss of Sector Command and the
Fathal
-class station there was no centralized command to direct the battle. Worse, none of the surviving officers had the force of will or knowledge to rescue the situation. Confusion swept across the defenders, and the weapons of the Ashani were close behind.

* * * * * * *

The clouds of white mist were visible from orbit, and every member of the IRON MAIDEN crew was watching silently as more and more puffs appeared between the bright flashes of neutron warheads and the dark plumes of groundbursts. Neither Annie nor Rául had read out the sensor reports. They didn't have to. Nobody in the crew had ever seen a planet wide use of biological and nuclear weapons. They were cargo haulers, the equivalent of space truckers. None of them had ever considered what it would look like or how it would be carried out, yet instinctively they knew that was what they were witnessing. An entire world was being poisoned and sterilized before their eyes, a hundred million souls trapped on the surface were being systematically and efficiently killed by the ships in orbit without even an attempt to land troops and take the world by conventional means. It made no sense. Why fight so hard for something and then just destroy it? It was purely terrifying.

Alexej broke the silence. “We have an issue developing.”

The Ashani line had continued to expand, and the arrival of Érenni warships had brought the battle to the bombardment group. Right now the IRON MAIDEN was almost nose to nose with an Ashani warship. Thankfully it was too busy with the attack on the planet to notice them, or care about destroying the small freighter.

“
Can we go around?” Tarek questioned quickly, eyes darting from ship to ship and trying to work out the odds. They weren't good.

“
We need to exit the minefield at a very specific point, and the only way to reach it is through them,” Alexej pointed at the edge of the yellow and red-hued fleet.

“
This is crazy! We're a freighter and not a dreadnought! We can't fly through that!” Rául exclaimed, hitting his console.

“
We have two choices,” Alexej said slowly. “Either we try and fly past them and get killed, or we stay here and get killed.”

“
We need another option!” demanded Rául.

“
In an effort to get us out I overtax the engines and they explode, and we get killed,” Alexej added with a grin. “Either way we're screwed.”

“
Alexej, all ahead full,” Tarek announced in a hard voice. “There will be no more discussions. This is my ship and I say we run the blockade. Look at those Érenni ships. They'll keep the Ashani busy long enough for us to make a run.”

“
This is a monumentally bad idea, I just want you all to know that,” Rául remarked with obvious terror despite trying to calm his voice. “So when we all get blasted your last thought can be 'oh, Rául was right', okay?”

“
Well, I always said if you were right about anything it'd be over my dead body,” Tarek shrugged. “Let's see what happens.”

The small freighter dashed forward as the few operational Érenni ships engaged, a dazzling laser beam slicing into the missile ship immediately in front of them. The strike must have hit something important within the ungainly looking vessel as it exploded with massive force, the stacks of missiles inside lending their explosive force to the ship's final moment of existence. Alexej dropped the nose of his ship down, the blast wave jolting them badly and pushing them farther down as white hot drops of molten metal rushed past the IRON MAIDEN like illuminated snowflakes. The view coming from the bow sensors was dominated by warships moving forward to battle, bright beams of energy dashing between the vessels and ending in fire whenever they contacted an object.

“Keep to starboard, down the Zed,” Tarek growled. “There aren't so many of them over there.”

They skirted the battlefield, weaving past the blackened ruins left behind by the destruction, and trying to keep a low profile. While Alexej concentrated on not hitting anything and Tarek kept an eye on sensors the rest of the crew were transfixed by the battle unfolding right beside them. The fight was close enough to them that the entire cockpit was illuminated in the orange light of fire coming from the incessant explosions. A spinning Érenni cruiser with half its hull missing collided with one of the missile ships, tearing both vessels apart in a fury of destruction. Ashani fighters and frigates danced through the battle, striking here and there to weaken enemy ships and provide opportunities for the larger cruisers to exploit. The fight for Senfina had turned into a cauldron with Érenni ships surrounded and fighting frantically for every extra second of survival, time they used to try and destroy more of the missile carriers dropping plagues on the world below. It was too late, of course. The population's fate was by now sealed, but that did not stop them from trying.