Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (17 page)

Ian nodded acknowledgment of her report but kept watching the battle scene in the big tank. "Major Eischens, has there been any preparations by the ground forces to the approach of these ships?"

Eischens shook his head. "No Sir, It's like the Imperials down there have no idea these guys are even coming."

"Maybe they don't," Ian said "From everything we can see, these are not your normal Imperial troops. The only marking the new ships had on them was that weird glyph or whatever it is; normal Imperial ships have writing all over them. I'm starting to think these are not Imperial military, but something else. Something no one has ever seen before."

"That wouldn't make any sense; why would they introduce new forces here? This is an out of the way planet and an unimportant battle over a planet that holds no strategic value for either side. That makes no sense," Eischens said, mostly thinking aloud.

"I think the Admiral is right Ike, ('Ike' was Chloe's pet name for Major Eischens.) This is the first time a captured planet has been taken back by Alliance forces. I think these guys are here to make sure any evidence of what they were up to down there does not fall into our hands," Chloe said.

"It's a farming planet. We weren't even sure they were up to something. This still doesn't make any sense," Eischens replied. "I just wish we could capture one of them alive so we could question them; we know so little about them!"

"We should get some information from the people of this planet, but that will be second hand, at best," Ian said.

Eischens nodded. "One of my folks has asked the Ambassador and her escorts for an interview, I believe one of Mrs. Laskar's folks is also involved. They are trying to gather information on the social structure of the Empire."

Ian nodded. "That's fine, if they agree, but please ask them to be respectful and considerate. The Ambassador has been in hiding since the planet fell, so she might not want to deal with being asked a million questions she has no answers for."

The Major nodded his agreement and made a note to remind his interviewer.

"We're in range for the big cannons and missiles; beginning attack!" Chloe reported. "Missiles away!"

An aide approached the table and Ian hesitantly. "Sir, I have a message from Commander Williams."

Ian nodded. "Quickly please, Ensign."

"Yes Sir," She looked down at her smart sheet. "The doctors tell us that Cindy is going to be alright. She's in serious but stable condition. She is expected to make a complete recovery but is still unconscious. I'm sorry Ian, but Ben has died of his injuries. He took a lot of head trauma that just couldn't be repaired. I'm returning to the bridge.' That's the end of the message Sir," the Ensign finished.

"Thanks Ensign. Please return to your station," Ian replied sadly. He hadn't known Ben all that well, but liked him based on Cindy's reports and the few times Ian had met him. Cindy wasn't going to take his loss very well.

Seeing the look on his face, Major Eischens put his hand on Ian's shoulder in support. Chloe was blinking back tears of her own, but kept to her duty. "Cannons are firing. Missile impact in fifteen seconds."

The large fixed-mount particle cannons on the new battle-cruiser class ships fired a massive ion charge meant to disrupt the electrical and magnetic systems of an enemy ship. Disrupt, not destroy; basically, it caused all shield generators and control systems to reboot or reset before they could be put back into operation.

"Well, the big cannons worked, both ships are tumbling!" Chloe reported grinning.

"Colonel! The Pods!" one of the operators said from the ranks of consoles.

In the tank, Chloe zoomed in on one of the ships. The ships were releasing the pods as they tumbled. The pods were floating away and trailing the larger craft like debris since they were currently unpowered as well.

"If those pods are manned, those pilots have to have nerves of battle steel. At least some of them are going to burn up before they can get their shields back online," Eischens said as he watched the scene.

"Chloe, get our fighters in there. Priority targets are the larger pods, but they are to destroy as many smaller ones as they can too. Tracking, we need to know where every single one of them is going to come down. Make sure and pass that info on to the ground force commander for a strike. Major Eischens, make sure you warn them that these are unknowns and most likely untouchable by anything short of heavy armor," Ian said. "Do we have a total count on the pods?"

"Three hundred, seventy-seven Sir, but the count is dropping fast," someone replied. "So far, I have twenty-one pods with a heavier mass reading than the others. I've passed the target info on to the flight leaders."

"Good work, those have to be destroyed before they get to the atmosphere; no exceptions!" Ian ordered.

It took a few minutes for the drop pods' weapons to come back on line, but when they finally did, they began shooting back at the fighters and tried to protect the large pods. Alliance forces didn't lose any pilots, but several fighters did get damaged. It was a close thing, but the last two large pods did get destroyed just as they began entering the atmosphere. Large concentrations of toxic chemicals and other really nasty stuff was detected after their destruction, but none of it would make it to the planet. In the end, only one hundred twenty-nine smaller pods made it into the atmosphere; and ninety-six made it to the ground. That's when things began to get interesting.

"Give me a total and a status of the pods that made it to the ground," Ian ordered. "Please get me Admiral T'rolith."

A comm window opened in front of Ian with T'rolith in it. "Did you prevent the large pods from making it to the surface?"

Ian nodded. "Yes we did, but it was a close thing. Thank you for destroying those other ships. If there had been more of those pods, we might have been in trouble."

The other Admiral nodded. "I'm moving my ships to the planet now to assist in support of the ground operations. This mission has been one surprise after another; let us hope that we have no more of those."

"That is has, Admiral. I was actually calling to ask if you would assist us. I agree with you and would like to put an end to this. The sooner, the better." Ian looked up at Chloe. "Could we send our data over to Admiral T'rolith?"

In the video window, T'rolith smiled. "I have already given orders to the fleet to take direction from your command center as soon as they are in position." He paused. "Many of our peers felt that this mission was a waste of time and resources. I will admit that even I had my doubts. However, after seeing what you have done here, and the affect it has had on our troops, I can only wonder how the news will affect our people as well. I am beginning to feel that this mission will be one of the most important ones of this war. You have shown our troops that there is still hope. The Empire can be defeated and we can take back that which was taken from us. You have done well here this day, Admiral. I am proud to have been a part of it."

Ian gave him a small smile as well. "I appreciate that Admiral. I'll make sure my people know it too. But, we still have work to do, and the battle isn't over yet."

"Surely you don't think there is anything those few troops can do to prevent this victory?" he asked.

"As far as our taking the planet, no. But the very nature of these pods and the way the troops operating them are acting, makes me uneasy. I'll not feel safe in calling this a victory until they are no longer a threat," Ian admitted.

T'rolith nodded. "I can understand that. In all the years of fighting, we have never encountered forces such as these. I have issued orders to locate their point of origin. The more knowledge we have on them the closer we will come to an answer as to why such elite forces have never been used before."

"Excuse me; Admiral. Those assholes are not even bothering to regroup! They are all heading straight for Starlight as fast as they can," Major Eischens reported. "They are even ignoring our forces!"

Ian was surprised. "What do we have for heavy armor in and around Starlight?"

"We only have one battalion of medium tanks there so far. Two other battalions are still in route," Eischens replied.

Ian looked thoughtful for a moment. "New orders for the Raptor teams; unless they can't get free, they are to move immediately to the Starlight spaceport and secure that freighter. If there is something so important that the Imperial troops are going to such lengths to protect it, we better figure out what it is, fast! Shift all fighter craft over to stopping those pods!"

"Sir, the glyph that was on the ships has been identified. It was archaic and is in reference to one of the enemy deities. The glyph itself means 'Swords of Light". Major Eischens reported.

"Religious troops," Ian said flatly. "That certainly explains their tenacity."

"How so?" T'rolith asked as he was still on the comm.

"These troops are not part of the Imperial Military, they are part of a religious sect. Which means they are zealots; fanatics that believe they are the chosen of their god," Ian explained.

"Like temple guardians?" the other Admiral asked.

Ian shook his head. "No, more like the militant branch of a religion. Fanatically loyal to the church and blessed by their god. They offer no mercy, will never surrender, and will never, ever turn away from a mission." He paused. "When fighting normal Imperial forces, if you beat them down far enough, they will withdraw and cede victory to you. These troops won't; they will continue to fight with everything and anything they can until they are destroyed. For them, victory is their only option."

"Surely they cannot believe they can retake this world?" T'rolith said.

"I'm pretty sure retaking this world is not their mission, Admiral. From the beginning, they have been focusing on a certain hangar, containing a certain freighter, at Starlight spaceport. That was the target identified in the vision," Ian explained. "They will do anything they can to prevent us from getting our hands on that freighter; including killing the planet itself."

CHAPTER EIGHT

TDF Raptor
Apache

Failspire Sector

Imperial Occupied Space

Major Jana Cromwell, Commanding

While Ian and the fleets began their assault on Hyperion, the Raptors were nearing their objective.

"Five minutes to interface, Major," Gouyen reported.

"Thanks Gouyen. What are the Imperials up to?" Jana asked in return.

"It appears that they are preparing to send a fleet through the gates. Several of the ships have left the parking formation they had been in and are moving toward the gates. Our sensors at Grimaria have also confirmed the departure of the capitol class ships we placed mines on. They will be arriving in the vicinity of our own destination any minute," the AI replied. "The remainder of the Imperial fleets have taken up a formation centered on our arrival coordinates. It is safe to assume they know exactly where we will be arriving."

Jana nodded. "Pass the signal to the others to execute the rest of the plan one minute before we drop out."

Gouyen nodded. "They have acknowledged. All missiles and probes are ready for launch."

"Good maybe we can confuse this idiot even more and still survive this," Jana replied.

"The capitol ships have arrived. Activating and arming the demolition charges," Gouyen reported. "Confirmed, one of the fleets is preparing to enter the gates. Energy readings indicate the gates have activated. I recommend we evacuate the area immediately."

Jana nodded. "Agreed, let the others know please. Changing course to secondary arrival location. Drop one of the sensor probes if you can."

"Probes dropped. Gate detonation confirmed. Hyperspace distortion wake approaching!" Gouyen reported. When she heard the fear in her normally unflappable AI, Jana turned to look at her.

"How big?"

"Estimating force twelve. Exact magnitude is beyond sensor abilities," Gouyen replied.

"Warn the others Gouyen! Executing emergency hyperspace exit!" Jana replied as she turned back to the Raptor's controls and began trying to save the ship.

Hyperspace naturally had distortion waves. Like the waves on an ocean small currents and eddies of energy moved and flowed as a result of solar flares, emissions from pulsars and other large astronomical occurrences. Normally, those waves were small and had little to no effect on the ships that traveled in this dimension. Even battles between ships in normal space could produce hyperspace wake. However, the detonation of the gates had created what amounted to a hyperspace super-tsunami that would be far too strong for a hyperspace engine and the field it generated to overcome. The engine would overload and explode, leaving the ship in a virtual blast furnace of energy that would shred even a capitol ship. There was a long drawn out scientific explanation for what happens, but the end result was the same: any ship hit by an 'h-wave' larger than force eight would be disintegrated.

"All Raptors are executing emergency interfaces. Main distortion wave will arrive in thirty seconds, harbingers are already hitting us," Gouyen reported.

Events happened pretty quickly at that point. The raptors all made it out of hyperspace, but three of them took damage to their hyperspace engines. They had already altered course for the predetermined secondary exit points, so when they returned to normal space, they were some distance from the enemy fleets. However, each of the raptors had different secondary exits. It had been decided to do that in order to confuse the enemy commanders.

"Gouyen, I'm triggering the rest of the demolition charges we planted before they figure out what we did," Jana replied as she typed on her command input keyboard. "While we have a moment, what the hell just happened? We should have had plenty of time to get clear of that monster."

"Open comms request from the other commanders," Gouyen said and Jana just nodded. They're faces came up on the main viewer in front of Jana's pilot station.